


You Will Find It in Me

by DarthAnimus



Series: This Is Who You Are [4]
Category: Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: F/M, Fae & Fairies, Fairy Tale Elements, Kidnapping, M/M, Possession
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-20
Updated: 2017-04-17
Packaged: 2018-03-31 12:08:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 26,668
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3977464
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarthAnimus/pseuds/DarthAnimus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Finding Pieces of a Life sequel.</p><p>Jack is settling into his powers and role as he becomes the harbinger of winter. Complications arise as new winter spirits are being born and some suspect that the Snow Queen isn't quite as dead as everyone thought.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. You're Not Alone At All

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>   
>  This one's for the lonely, the one's that seek and find  
> Only to be let down time after time  
> This one's for the torn down, the experts at the fall  
> Come on friends get up now you're not alone at all
> 
> ~ Greg Laswell - Comes and Goes  
> 

Revealing his Pooka form to the Guardians had been a mess, Jack decided after the fact. Which was why he decided that he'd do much better revealing his nature to the Burgess Believers. Jack didn’t plan just one dramatic reveal of his newfound identity, he planned several. He planned a personal one for almost every single one of his group of believer friends.

Well, it wasn't all Jack's idea. There was an insistent cold bug sweeping the town of Burgess, and most of the kids had caught it. Jamie was one of the few healthy ones and had roped Jack into cheering up his ailing friends, even helping Jack plan out dramatic reveals for each of them.

Jack had been rather surprised by it all, especially since Jamie had before been so insistent on being there when Jack revealed his nature to the rest of the kids. He'd been looking forward to it, hadn't he?

"Yeah, of course," Jamie had replied when Jack had asked him about it. "But making my friends happy is more important than that."

The surge of pride Jack had felt when he'd heard that really drove it home how important Jamie had become to him, like a younger sibling. Jack knew he'd felt similarly proud of Poppy whenever he'd gotten to see one of her flower arrangements, and was sure he'd have felt this same pride about Poppy as well, if he'd ever gotten to see her grow up. At least he'd get too see Jamie grow up, Jamie and the rest of Burgess believers.

It helped Jack find a new appreciation for how Sage had used to look after him during their training years. Just because you couldn't be with your younger sibling didn't meant you stopped being an older sibling. Although Jack was sure Sage had never been quite as protective and proud of Jack as Jack was becoming of Jamie, Sage had always been a very supportive friend. Jack was determined to do his best support these kids in turn.

 

* * *

 

The first one of the Burgess Believers that Jack visited was Monty. He was the obvious choice because Jamie insisted that Jack should surprise everyone during the same day so that no one would spoil the surprise for each other, and Monty was always the one to rise the earliest among the kids. Apparently he liked how quiet mornings could be, even with birds singing loudly in the nearby trees outside.

Jack perched on the backrest of the living room couch as Monty drank a mug of tea in deep gulps. The boy's mother had prepared him a full thermos of the stuff that would be more than enough for Monty's needs while she was out grocery shopping. Really, whenever Jack wondered how a kid as young as Monty could worry so much, he just needed to look at the boy's mother fuss.

"You're sure you won't catch my cold?" Monty asked for the third time when he put his mug down on the coffee table. "I know you said spirits don't get sick, but..." The boy trailed off, his hands rotating his mug so it sat in a perfect angle on the table.

"We don't get runny noses or anything like that," Jack insisted with a grin. He'd given himself the perfect opening with that answer, which was truthful. Now would come the lie. "We change completely." The winter spirit wiggled his fingers for effect.

Monty gave Jack an unimpressed look. "Really?" he murmured, and Jack hadn't know a ten-year-old could sound so droll.

Jack scoffed. That was so unappreciative, especially when he was going to such an effort to create the perfect surprise. Just for that, he'd amp up the ham.

And so he did. The winter spirit made a dramatic show of losing his balance and toppling backwards off the couch.

"Augh!" he cried out, adding some croaking throat-sounds for effect. "It's happening! I'm turning into a woodland creature!"

"Jack, stop it," Monty said as sternly as he could with a clogged nose and a touch of panic distorting his words. "I'm not falling for this." Regardless, Jack heard the worry in the boy's voice, accompanied by sounds of movement when Monty stood up from the cushioned seat and started walking around the couch.

There was an upside to North's fascination with making things and his joy at giving presents. After that year's skating party North had proudly presented to Jack a new design for pants that would allow him to shift between human and Pooka without a need to strip partially first. They were baggier than Jack was used to, especially around the knees and shins, they had to be with how Pooka legs bent, but the adjustable waistline was a definite plus, considering how Jack's waist was considerable narrower than his hips in Pooka form. What really mattered, however, was that the pants were functional, since they allowed Jack to be in his full Pooka form by the time Monty finished coming around the couch.

Monty stared, eyes wide behind his glasses. Jack grinned and waved, but the boy stayed frozen in place.

Jack frowned. "Did I break you, kid?" he asked. Really, he'd been expecting screaming or something. Maybe he shouldn't have made all those terrible dying noises; they probably made this situation scarier than it would have otherwise been.

Without a word, Monty turned around and walked back around the couch. Jack stood up to watch the boy walk over to the plush living room carpet and lie down there, staring at the ceiling It was all more than a touch worrying.

“Hey, Monty.” Jack leaped over the couch and landed beside the boy in a crouch. “What are you doing?”

“Rethinking everything,” the blond murmured, adjusting his glasses.

“Right.” Jack chuckled as he sat himself down to look at the kid. So he was fine, after all, just adjusting what he knew to what he had seen. “You and Jamie are both such serious kids.”

“At least you know our maturity won’t affect our belief in you,” Monty commented.

Jack paused. Not just mature, these kids were sharp. He mulled over things for a bit, before saying: "I didn't change shape because I caught your cold, you know."

There was a long, slightly raspy breath from Monty, a snotty sigh of relief. "Oh, good," the boy said. He frowned and looked up at Jack. "Then how _did_ you change shape? It doesn't seem to make sense."

"I'm apparently a shape-shifter," Jack said with a wide grin. "Cool, isn't it?"

Monty continued frowning, the expression more curious than anything. "So..." The boy drew the word out before he asked: "How does it work? Do you only change into a rabbit or is it winter animals in general or can you change into anything?"

Jack chuckled. "In theory, I can change into anything as soon as I learn to do it," the winter spirit answered. He decided that the whole ‘space alien’ revelation could wait for later. He didn’t want to damage the kid, since this all seemed like it was a lot for him to take in.

Okay, so maybe early morning was a bad time for a practical joke.

 

* * *

 

Caleb and Claude were next on Jack's list. The twins were rather bouncy even when they were ill, especially since they'd already been sick for some days and the worst of the illness had had a chance to pass for them both. In fact, Jack was pretty sure that the twins were moving more towards cabin fever than any cold-induced fever.

It was easy to foresee, since it was easier to be energetic when there was someone there to constantly spur you on. The twins were easy to goad into a game of chase (more like a mixture of tag and hide-and-seek, since Jack was wary of wearing them out too much) around the house, when Jack could surprise the kids each in turn with different shifted appendages.

For Caleb, he showed a pair of rabbit ears, which were gone by the time the boy caught him. And for Claude, Jack showed a bird's beak, which would also vanish in another moment. Accompanied by some themed one liners about flying or hopping and the twins were both wondering what kind of trickery it was, or if they'd just gotten too immersed in the game and started imagining new things for it.

The bird beak was an easy pick for Jack, since bird features were the easiest things he could shift besides Pooka and human features. It made sense that the first forms Jack learned to morph into outside his two base forms were aquiline. His powers did grant him a certain affinity with the air and flying.

It was, of course, only a matter of time before the boys caught on. It was only after he’d popped rabbit ears in front of Claude that Jack realized that the twins had swapped shirts while Jack’s attention had been elsewhere. The duo had quite effectively turned the tables on him and Jack was actually quite proud of them for it. He even told them as much, after he’d finished giving them both noogies.

\--

When pranking Cupcake, Jack took advantage of the terrain like a true expert. Which, in practise, meant changing his skin and hair into pink to match the girl’s mountains of plush toys and lying down among them, with only his apparently empty clothes left behind.

That prank ended up backfiring spectacularly, however, when Cupcake soon started screaming indignantly about Jack going around streaking, which in turn got Jack jumping off the plush mound and yelling indignantly right back.

Really, what did this kid think? That he’s streak just to get a reaction?

Actually, considering that he had a pink face for the sake of getting a reaction, the kid might be justified in thinking that.

 

* * *

 

Pippa was the hardest one. Mostly because Jack didn’t even get a chance to try anything before the girl lifted a hand, palm out, to stop him.

“I know you’ve been going around shape-shifting. I know you can do it,” the girl had deadpanned.

“Yeah?” Jack had crossed his arms sullenly. “How did you know?”

“I got the info from Monty,” the girl replied smugly. “He was being even more skittish than usual when I chatted with him online.”

“What are you, Nancy Drew?” Seriously, if Jamie was the paranormal investigator of the bunch, Pippa was the hardboiled detective. She was inquisitive, but also sceptical (Jack sometimes wondered if she’d be the first one to stop believing, explaining the supernatural away with sharp wit). Thankfully, such worries were still some years away from being topical.

Jack smirked. Oh, well, there was one thing she couldn’t have gotten from Monty (seriously, these kids and their technology took all the mystery out of life).

“So, you know I’m a space alien, like Bunny?” The winter spirit’s smirk widened as Pippa’s mouth dropped open.

He was still champeen.

 

* * *

 

Sophie was the last one Jack revealed his secret to, and the only one not under flu quarantine. It was really a rather simple plan. He joined the girl for a tea party (she was already at that age, apparently) and asked her what she thought Jack should be if he could be anything else in the world.

“A bunny!” the girl shrieked in delight. Like there’d been any doubt over what her answer would be. Jamie was smiling expectantly from his own seat next to his sister.

Jack grinned widely. “Like this?” he asked as his ears morphed into long rabbit ears.

Sophie squealed and clapped her hands in delight. “More, more!” the girl giggled.

“Alrighty then.” Jack grew whiskers and a rabbit nose. With Sophie’s applause cheering him on he was soon in his full Pooka form. “So?” He struck a heroic pose for effect. “What do you think?”

“Again! Again!” Sophie cheered, while Jamie laughed beside her.

Really, who was Jack to disappoint such an appreciative crowd? Even if it did end up meaning that he’d spend most of the remainder of the day shifting back and forth between Pooka and human.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a bit strange in that it's kind of loose in the timeline. It's set some months after 'Finding Pieces of a Life', and a couple of years before the bulk of this story. Still, I decided to include it here, because the themes fit better.
> 
> Yes, I am blatantly hinting that I want you guys to care about what I might do to these adorable children.


	2. I'll Love You All the While

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>   
>  And I  
> Will try  
> To get you up  
> Cause it’s beautiful outside  
> And we’ll fall  
> But we’ll try  
> We’ll do our best  
> And I’ll love you all the while  
> Because you saved my life once  
> Because you saved my life once
> 
> ~ Wakey!Wakey! - Light Outside  
> 

Becoming the harbinger of winter was a lot of work, much more than Jack had expected. To be honest, the winter spirit had thought he'd just need to reign in his powers, but there was apparently much more to it than that. Self-discipline, understanding of the features of magical energies and priming his elemental affinity were all things Jack needed to learn. Fortunately, those skills were also generally useful to the Guardians as well, so Jack's friends were able and willing to help him learn. Learning about his abilities also offered Jack the chance to learn about the people who were his friends, almost as close as family by now.

For one, from North Jack learned, in addition to learning his first ever actual spells to help focus his natural magical affinity, just what kinds of adventures North had gotten up to in his youth. The physically imposing spirit had started off as a thief and an adventurer, fearless and adventurous. There had been nothing he'd been afraid of and he'd been eager to prove it, too.

Of course regular thievery would bore someone like North. That was why he'd taken on increasingly difficult tasks in order to obtain the most wondrous of treasures. Such tasks had been easy to find back then, when magic was bright, when there were spirits in everything and when people, young and old, all believed.

North had fought witch queens, ghoul kings and even dragons of all sorts, until words of his exploits were on everyone's lips. North made himself a legend while still alive.

The problems had risen when the legends became myths, when the childlike innocence of the people became limited to children alone. North hadn't noticed this happening, he'd been so focused on his newest quest that it was only long afterwards that he realized just what happens when you wrap yourself in the fantastic so much that you become a part of it.

North had actually missed the change when he went on a journey for years and came back completely unchanged, looking exactly the same as the day he left. What he hadn't missed was the way people could suddenly walk through him. North's gut instinct had told him that there was another great adventure beginning in that moment.

The next night the moon had shone a path for North, the glow reflecting in patterns off the ground in a way that formed a road for him to follow. Ever fearless and eager, North had followed the path, for several miles, as far as it would go.

On the other end of the moonlit road had been a hut, and in the hut a wizard named Ombric. Ombric had seen North, clasped his hand without it passing through, and had taken the young man on as an apprentice. After years of studying and training, North had set off on a new quest, this time for a new purpose.

That was when he'd met the yetis, and saved them from the ice dragon that ruled over the area that was now known as North Pole. Slaying the mighty beast had earned North the loyalty of the yetis and control of the dragon's former territory. The territory came in handy when North finally decided that it was time to retire from active adventuring and had built up his Workshop on the very mountain that had held the cave that had been the dragon's home.

Jack had heard this story from North himself while the man had led him down a hallway in the Workshop that held the finished murals of his exploits. North then proceeded to explain to Jack that all of the Guardians' most meaningful battles had been immortalized on the walls in various places in the Workshop. Jack decided it would be a fun game to find them all.

As far as teaching Jack spells went, North probably wasn’t as top notch a teacher as his own had been. As the tale of the Cossack Who Became Santa Claus proved, North tended to go off on mostly unrelated tangents on the drop of a hat. Jack didn’t really mind, even though it did mean that Jack’s studies to spells were coming along very slowly.

Sandy was in charge of teaching Jack discipline. Considering the revelation that Jack's powers could turn on him if left unchecked, discipline was sorely needed. And, really, with the complete lack of winter elementals, there was no one else who could help Jack relearn how to control any blizzards or snowstorms he summoned. Before Jack's power boost, such things had been almost natural. Now it had been a choice between accepting Sandy's offered help (even though Jack hadn't been sure how Sandy would teach him when he was still tripping over the Wishing Star's pictographs) or asking a weather spirit that specialized in storms (those were the most volatile kinds of weather spirits). Picking Sandy had been an easy decision to make.

The communications issue also turned out to be not much of one, as more often than not Tooth would join Jack on the sessions. Apparently Tooth's and Sandy's respective specialities were compatible for this goal. Sandy was good at directing large amounts of innate magic at a time, while Tooth was exceptional at multitasking and spreading her awareness between several different focal points. They didn't know what kind of connection Jack would have with the weather he created once the evolution of his powers was finished and, considering how dangerous unchecked winter powers could be, it would be wise for Jack to be as prepared in advance as possible.

Sandy was actually a good teacher, and Jack was pretty sure that the Wishing Star was even more disciplined as the best of Jack's teachers at the Pooka Battle Academy. It was amazing, back in their first real battle together, how Sandy had been able to stay calm even as Pitch's corruption ate him from the inside out. Jack didn't know if that had been because Sandy had known he'd be able to bounce back, or if Sandy was just that unflappable. It could be both, really.

Tooth, on the other hand, was still clearly learning about teaching. To be fair, she usually only taught her minifairies, who could gain information from Tooth through telepathy. The small tooth fairies could gain instant knowledge bases with little to no explanation required. Fortunately, Sandy seemed to be good at getting Tooth to slow down for a change so that even Jack could follow along with the lessons.

In hindsight, Jack considered the Guardians as a whole and wondered if Sandy was generally the most dependable guy of the bunch while the others tended to go off the rails on whatever tangent caught their fancy. No wonder the little guy so often looked completely done during meetings. It really did seem like an exhausting job.

Regardless of any hiccups in training procedure, Jack could clearly tell that there was a difference in how the weather he influenced reacted to his magic. His connection to winter _had_ changed, becoming more profound, and Jack was forever grateful to the fact that he had such multitalented friends that they could share their experience with him in aiding him relearn how to control his magic again.

Jack didn't even know when he'd become so strong; he'd only noticed when the quality of his magic had changed, not the quantity. There was so much more power inside him now than there had been in the beginning, and having it altered so suddenly had left him off-balance. No wonder his magic had turned against him when he'd attempted to use so much of it at once; it had been like he was handling something foreign and not something that was supposed to be a natural part of him. It was really disconcerting.

Of course, Jack still needed to finish his training of his Pooka body as well on the side, which was a lot less unnerving than whatever was going on with Jack's winter powers. That training was both complicated and eased by Bunny's knowledge of Jack's heritage. Not only had Bunny readily volunteered his help without asking, the other Pooka was actually a very good teacher, getting Jack back into shifting shape and being able to correct the forms Jack had gotten rusty in during his period of amnesia.

There were really no problems in Jack's training itself. Bunny was a patient and thorough teacher. But, while Bunny had recovered from his weird version of spirit flue and was finally back to his old self again, the old self was very thoroughly ignoring Jack outside of his training. The spring spirit was highly attentive whenever he coached Jack, but their discussion sessions over Pookas had dwindled into nothing. Before Jack had revealed to Bunny that he was a Pooka, Bunny never refused Jack their talks. As such, the explanation for their disappearance was obvious; Bunny wasn't as at peace with Jack being a Pooka as he appeared.

Somehow, Bunny had managed to actually become harder to deal with when he'd found out about Jack being a Pooka. While the passing of Easter had fixed Bunny up, just like the spring spirit had guessed, the physical wellbeing had not translated into mental wellbeing. Bunny had retired his coats again, but he was acting shifty and answering Jack's requests of visits with vague excuses.

Add to that the fact that Jack himself had things he didn't want to talk about, and the two Pookas had ended in a several months long standstill where neither wanted to disrupt the status quo, no matter how awkward it got. Although, Jack had known for a long time that he'd be the first one to crack under pressure, which could lead into yelling and arguing and Jack was pretty sure that no one would be stepping in to play referee this time. Everyone who had noticed the new awkwardness between Jack and Bunny had already guessed the cause and most likely considered the entire matter 'Pooka Business'.

Despite his frustration with the situation, Jack understood why Bunny wasn't talking. Bunny was all about new beginnings, starting over and leaving the past behind. In fact, he hadn't once asked Jack what his name had been in his past life. While Jack sometimes came close to calling the other out on it, he always backed down at the end.

Sure, Bunny had taken the revelation that Jack was a Pooka pretty well, but Jack had _seen_ how close Bunny had come to a complete breakdown before he forced the reaction down in order to be supportive towards Jack. Jack knew Bunny would hate the comparison, but it truly showed that the other Pooka had once been called 'The Hope of the People'. Unhealthily ignoring his own feelings to focus on others was just the kind of thing they did.

Maybe _that_ was why Bunny didn't want to discuss Pookas with Jack anymore? Maybe after everything he now only had bad things left to say and didn't want to offend Jack.

Unfortunately for Bunny, Jack still had the key sentinel that would allow him (at least seemingly) unlimited access to the Warren. So when Jack eventually grew tired of the strange game of cat and mouse, and after he had figured out the least offensive way to word his grievances, it was a very simple matter of activating the miniature den guard and he was soon leaping through one of the Warren entrances. Just this once Jack summoned his wind indoors to take him to Bunny.

He found the other Pooka on his knees, digging through the dirt, fur covered in soil and grass, and promptly landed right on top of a freshly turned batch of earth.

"Jackie." The word was practically growled out as Bunny directed a glare up at Jack from under his dark brows. "Mind taking a step back?"

"What?" Jack opened with a confrontational tone, letting his shepherd's crook hang off the crook of his arm (he might get pissed and freeze Bunny over otherwise). "No greeting nuzzle?"

"Maybe if you weren't bloody _trampling_ my saplings, ya drongo." Bunny's accent thickened with his temper flaring, but Jack wasn't about to back down.

"You've been avoiding me," the winter spirit accused.

Bunny's glower faltered when he blinked, startled. Then he scowled and stood up. "I just saw you last Tuesday."

Jack crossed his arms. "Not good enough."

"N-not good enough?" Bunny spluttered. He gave Jack an incredulous look. "I see more of you than ever before and that's not enough?" The spring spirit spread his arms. "I always reckoned my company wasn't _that_ compelling."

"Right now it's downright unpleasant," Jack snapped and carried on before Bunny could take objection to his words: "You used to be able to tell me things, even personal stuff sometimes, but now you clam up about anything that's not small-talk or related to my training." The winter spirit sighed heavily, and then shifted his body into his other base form. Now looking down at Bunny (how could his two shapes be so different?), he asked: "Is it because you found out I'm a Pooka?"

Bunny released a deep groan, running a hand down his face, before he replied: "I _thought_ you didn't need me recounting what _houses_ looked like. You remember that stuff now." He crossed his arms, giving Jack a disbelieving once-over. "If you say you actually find that interesting outside of jogging your memory I'm gonna have to say that's porky."

"Well, yeah, I don't much care about clothes or houses or whatnot," Jack said. "But the rest of it? The people you knew? The places you've been? The things that have pissed you off? _Those_ things are interesting." Jack almost said he thought _Bunny_ was interesting, but that might set him off. Who knew with these self-deprecating Australians.

The two stared each other down. Jack was certain there was more to this whole thing than Bunny thinking Jack was _bored_ with him (why would he even care that much about what Jack thought?) and he wasn't leaving before he got to the bottom of it.

The silence was broken by a conceding sigh. Bunny lifted a hand to tug on his own ear as he asked: "You just don't get it, do you?"

"I'm not a mind-reader," Jack snapped, "and you're not communicating."

Releasing an almost choking sound Bunny shot Jack a fierce glare and snarled: "I know what you want me to be, but I _can't be what you want_!" The spring spirit squeezed his hands into fists and dropped them to his sides. "There, I said it, happy?"

"Bunny." Jack was very much lost now. "What are you talking about?"

"Don't think I didn't notice all those hints you've been dropping!" Bunny pointed an accusing finger at Jack. "Those vague comments about 'proper Pookas'! I'm not a proper Pooka and I never will be one!" Bunny pulled in on himself, pressing his hands to his chest, and Jack recognized that caving in gesture and Jack had caused it, again, by not realizing the possible repercussions for his seemingly innocuous actions before it was too late.

"No," the winter spirit said sternly, stepping up to his friend. "You be whoever you are, Bunny. You're my friend." Carefully, slowly, he brought his arms around Bunny pulling the other Pooka close. "Picking between my Pooka heritage and you, I'd pick you every time."

Slowly, Bunny's posture straightened as he relaxed into Jack's grip. He even moved his hands to grasp Jack's arms. Bunny's voice was even rougher than usual when he spoke softly: "Cheers, mate."

Jack resisted the urge to pull Bunny even closer, to make the friendly embrace something more intimate, and snorted a laugh.

"What?" Bunny asked in an annoyed tone, pulling back from the hug, but not releasing his grip on Jack, moving his hands instead to hold the winter spirit's own white-furred hands. "What's so funny?"

"Apparently a good shouting match is just what we needed to sort out our issues," Jack said with a snicker. This had happened before, hadn't it? In the Derelict.

Bunny grimaced at his own recollection and blanched. "I don't think that's a good coping mechanism, mate," he said insistently. He then gave Jack a considering look. "Maybe we should just meet up for a chinwag sometimes."

"That's what I've been saying." Jack grinned widely, squeezing Bunny's hands. The expression turned into one of consideration. "What changed your mind?"

"I just figured _you_ could talk for once." The shorted Pooka smirked. "You certainly seem to like the sound of your own voice enough."

The words were teasing, but the look in Bunny's eyes was warm. In addition to that, he still hadn't released Jack's hands. It all told Jack a single thing: Bunny wanted to learn more about Jack.

"Yeah, sure," Jack agreed readily, and smiled softly at the surprised look Bunny shot at him for ignoring the dig. Really, for someone supposedly incapable of feeling love, Bunny sure was good at inspiring it.

It actually made Jack not mind his inability to move on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Have some terrible Jackrabbit, everyone.


	3. The Sky Is a Hazy Shade of Winter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>   
>  Time, time, time, see what's become of me  
> While I looked around  
> For my possibilities  
> I was so hard to please  
> But look around, leaves are brown  
> And the sky is a hazy shade of winter  
>   
> ~ The Bangles - Hazy Shade of Winter  
> 

Magical abilities and control turned out to be only the beginning of Jack's training. For most of the first year of his coaching for his new role as the herald of winter, Jack genuinely thought that it all summed up to simply having better control over his new magic. Of course, he knew that he also had to learn to pace himself. If he was to take reigns of the winter season, he would need to work hard to make sure everything went as it should, that snow fell when it was supposed and not too much out of season.

It would be a lot of work, Jack mused as his first full winter as the herald approached. It was just him as the lone winter spirit, thanks to whatever the Snow Queen had done to the others centuries previously. It was quite the bit of workload for just one spirit, though.

That pretty much told Jack all he needed to know about how over the deep end the Snow Queen had been. If the other winter spirit had actually _wanted_ to micromanage all of winter by herself, she much have been a workaholic, a perfectionist or really nutty.

However, when winter arrived, so did something else. Suddenly there was something going around spreading frost on plants and cars on cold mornings. The frost would melt away within hours as the day progressed, so Jack didn't notice the phenomenon right away. He merely heard about it from the tooth fairies, and only realized that they hadn't been making things up just to get his attention after the fact.

Jack's own first encounter with the cause of the frost was when winter arrived properly, and the winter herald finally spotted the small winged spirits, not much larger than Tooth's minifairies, who were drawing frost patterns on anything they could get their tiny hands on. Jack had been in the process of springing an impromptu snow day when he'd seen a glimmer on a window sill. The next moment he'd realized that what he had seen wasn't a glass sculpture sitting on the other side, but a small spirit standing on the outside, drawing intrinsic patterns on the window in frost.

The creatures were completely transparent, like they were made from glass or ice, with four arms and four pixie wings and two skinny bird-like legs that were just made for perching. The only spots of color for the vaguely human-like beings were their eyes; they all had three perfectly round eyes that were entirely taken over by bright, constantly shifting colors, like their eyes made from concrete northern lights. All in all the creatures looked more like natural phenomena brought to life than anything human, which might have explained why they lacked the ability for any sort of speech.

Regardless of their communicative shortcomings (really, they rarely seemed to actually have anything to say unlike Tooth's minifairies), the little sprites were unobtrusive and even helpful. As such, Jack really didn't mind having them around. Especially since they seemed content to just keep doing their thing without any particular clinginess to Jack himself. They did tend to flock to Jack when the bigger winter spirit was nearby, but they didn't need or desire to actively seek Jack out outside of that.

The only downside to the little frost fairies was the implication the little things stood for. There were now other winter spirits, ones that made their subservience to Jack blatant. Jack was now a _leader_ , and being a leader meant that he was now responsible for the actions and behavior of others besides himself. It was an entirely new experience to Jack.

"I can barely be responsible for my _own_ actions!" Jack had protested to Bunny, who had proven to be entirely unhelpful when it came to aiding Jack come to terms with his new role. Apparently Ostara used to fill in for the Easter Bunny for quite some time, and it was, in fact, the goddess who'd brought order and discipline among the spring spirits. More helpfully, Bunny had still been willing to ask Ostara for pointers in Jack's place, which actually was a help, considering how shifty she'd gotten when Jack had been the one asking for tutelage.

So, Bunny asked Ostara if she could possibly teach Jack how to get a handle on this 'herald of a season' business, for some reason acting extremely apologetic over a simple request. Ostara had predictably laughed Bunny's attitude off and insisted that she'd be _happy_ to do this favor for Bunny. And that was how Jack found himself with a very specialized tutor.

The first thing Ostara told Jack was that seasonal spirits only had stereotypes because the group itself enforced those stereotypes. Summer spirits tended to goad each other into territorial disputes, because their community was built around the expectation that summer spirits fought over territory. Even spirits outside of the community enforced those behavioral archetypes with their attitudes, like how spring spirits tended to be laid back even about serious matters because everyone was convinced that they couldn't have serious worries (Bunny must have been an anomaly, Jack had joked).

Ostara told Jack that he was in an opportune position. These sprites were the first winter spirits of a new generation, and that meant that Jack could directly influence what kind of behavior became the norm for his kind. As long as he had the will to enforce his will, of course. Not that there was much to enforce; the frost fairies literally weren't strong enough to hurt anyone with their cold, and even the plants they frosted over were fine after the powdered sugar-like layer of frost melted.

All in all, Jack didn't mind the little guys, even though they didn't seem to have much anything interesting going for them. They didn't communicate, since they probably didn't have complicated thoughts that would require communication, and they just did their own thing and seemed to lack even the smallest trace of a mischievous streak. They were more animal-like than human-like, more instinct than planning. That wasn’t much of a surprise, since they were the first winter spirits who’d actually been born since the genocide, as Jack himself had been around before, just not awake.

Since Jack's new would-be-assistants were so inconsequential, Jack didn't mind them fluttering around when he practised his magic. He was also practising independently outside of his lessons with the other Guardians, and Bunny sometimes joined him just to observe. Or to spend time with him, but Jack knew Bunny wouldn't be straightforward about something like that.

Bunny was doing a lot better this winter, having even opted out of bringing any of his jackets with him. Jack had naturally questioned it, but Bunny had insisted that **the cold didn't bother him**. Frankly, Jack was convinced that Bunny was posturing since he had been such a weener about the cold during the previous winter.

"Is your weather-making connected to your wind-summoning abilities, or are they separate skills?" Bunny asked Jack with interest. It was a strange combination, Bunny asking such a thoughtful question all the while a small swarm of frost fairies hung off the long fur at his neck and shoulders. The little guys liked Bunny, apparently, and the spring spirit hadn't grown annoyed at the attention yet.

"I'm not sure, really," Jack answered, twirling his staff and wondering if Bunny was going to insist he try for the sake of magical science. "Snowfall is a completely different phenomenon from wind, but I don't always keep them strictly separate." Jack sneered. "Blizzards take both snow and wind, after all."

After brushing off some of the fairies hanging onto his front, Bunny crossed his arms with a thoughtful frown. "Maybe you should test it out? See how much they overlap?"

"Yeah, sure." Jack shrugged, seeing no reason why not. "Just, stay back. I know you don't like the cold."

"I'm fine," was Bunny's simple answer, even though he did step back. "Go on."

Jack took flight and brought his shepherd's crook in front of himself. Then he tried to summon something different from simple wind, or from a blast of cold. He tried to call forth a winter wind that would bring snow with it. The wind began to blow.

Jack jolted when he felt the blowing wind pass through him, leaving him with a sensation of bone-deep cold while seeming to yank the strength out of him as it passed. The wind blew harsher, scattering icy snow around, and Jack quivered from a sudden weakness as he dropped like a rock.

Fortunately, Bunny had been observing him closely, and sprung into action the instant he saw Jack fall. The spring spirit was ready when Jack fell, catching the winter spirit's limp body in his arms, taking some of the impact with his knees. He propped Jack up against his chest and called his name in concern.

Jack could do little more than groan as he looked up at Bunny's curious expression. He must have really worn himself out; he was shivering from the cold and he was seeing blue.

Bunny's brows lowered in concentration and Jack felt the cold drain out of him, leaving the usual comfortable level of warmth behind. It also left behind his deep exhaustion and the winter spirit groaned again, more weakly this time, and slumped further in Bunny's arms.

"Don't go fainting, now," Bunny murmured as he jostled Jack in his grasp, doubtlessly trying to keep the winter spirit awake. "This is an uncomfortable place for you to nap for the both of us."

Knowing Bunny was right (the other Pooka usually was, it was one of his more frustrating traits), Jack straightened his posture, allowing Bunny to plant him down on the ground on his own feet. He still allowed Jack to hold a hand on his arm to steady himself, however.

"How are you feeling?" Bunny asked with a querying tilt of his head. "Should I get you to the North Pole?"

Just the thought of receiving medical treatment from North's yetis had Jack shuddering from something other than cold or exhaustion. He shook his head before saying: "It's nothing a nap can't fix, and the Workshop isn't exactly restful."

"Fair enough," Bunny agreed readily. He shifted in a way that signalled that they were moving out. "Come along, then. You can take a nap in the Warren, that's peaceful enough."

The Warren was probably one of the most peaceful places Jack knew, but that much went without saying. "Sure, maybe after that we can take a look on your Christmas arrangement for the year."

Bunny gave him a look that told Jack that he'd completely lost the other spirit even better than the other's verbal response: "Pardon?"

"Your plant arrangement for the Christmas season," Jack clarified, following Bunny as they moved. "Unless you've already gone over it by yourself?"

"No, no, I haven't made any decisions yet. You're free to help me pick things out," Bunny insisted and flashed Jack a quick grin. "Just don't call it a Christmas arrangement again."

Jack grinned back at his friend. "You got yourself a deal."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I forgot to mention this at the end of the last chapter, but I actually came up with an original origin for North that's a mixture of the book and the questionably canonical comic done by one of the storyboard artists for the film. The way I see it, North's human origins in the book are a bit muddled thanks to him basically not having a childhood, which means that North's origin in the book makes him another one of the magical creatures that aid Katherine, the real identifiable human character. The backstory I created for North makes him the protagonist and hero of his own story, since I think the Guardians should all have their personal stories. Who knows, maybe I'll create one for Sandy as well at some point.


	4. Break the Ice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

>   
>  I don't know how to live through this hell  
> Woken up, I'm still locked in this shell  
> Frozen soul, frozen down to the core  
> Break the ice, I can't take anymore
> 
> ~ Metallica - Trapped Under Ice  
> 

The frost fairies were only the beginning. They were nonthreatening, since they were so simple-minded and task-oriented. While they were Jack's responsibility, there wasn't much to watch over. The fairies followed cold wind currents to any locations that might need a layer of frost, so it wasn't like they ever froze over anything they shouldn't. They had little agency and so they didn't stray from their purpose, which was the singular purpose of creating frost.

Mostly when it came to watching over the little things, Jack had to explain to other confused spirits what the little fairies were doing in their territory. Ostara had explained to Jack that settling territory disputes in the place of new spirits of his kind was one of the biggest and most important parts of a seasonal harbinger's job description.

The most territorial spirits tended to be nymphs. Anthousai nymphs took some winning over, since they were concerned over the fairies ruining the flowers they watched over. Dryads, on the other hand, were more than happy to see a decorative layer of frost appearing on the trunks of their trees. Jack staged mock offence when one even insisted that the little fairies were better at frosting things than Jack. Something about them having a much more delicate touch.

Jack spent most of the first year the critters showed up learning about them. His first assessment of them not having much in the way of sense of self proved very accurate and there was no trace of individuality among the group. This unfortunately meant that the little things didn't even _enjoy_ the lovely frost art they made, that they were more an extension of winter itself than separate spirits.

The frost fairies were helpful, but they really made for lousy company. They weren't even like pets, since they were more focused on their job than anything else, so emotional bonding hadn't happened yet. Jack determined that the fairies flocked to him mostly because he was the harbinger of winter.

It didn't explain why the things were so fascinated with Bunny too, though, unless they actually somehow reflected Jack himself in addition to winter. Which, if true, had the potential to be very embarrassing for Jack in the future.

Overall, Jack's workload was decreased rather than increased by the birth of a new species of spirits. The frost fairies simply didn't have enough presence to ruffle the feathers of other spirits.

The complete opposite happened on the following winter, when even more new winter spirits started popping up. To make it more complicated, they appeared in an area that was already thickly populated by various different spirits. Naturally, Jack was expected to help smooth things over before older and newer spirits, which was why Ostara and Jack ended up travelling to Japan together to help a group of newly-generated _yuki-onna_ find a way to coexist with the other spirits the area was inhabited by.

The task wasn't overly difficult, fortunately. This was mostly because there had been _yuki-onna_ in Japan earlier, back before the Snow Queen had managed to wipe out all other winter spirits. Thanks to this, the other spirits knew they had adapted to the presence of winter spirits before, and they were even willing to let the _yuki-onna_ to move to some areas where the previous generation had lived, which hadn't suited the needs of the other local spirits.

Some of the spirits were more accommodating than others. In general, the spirits that favored mountain ridges as living areas, like the _yuki-onna_ , were solitary creatures. _Kamaitachi_ had high strung instincts that made them very territorial, but their weasel-like nature made them not care for the colder regions much, so Jack was able to convince them to leave the colder areas to the _yuki-onna_. The _tengu_ were much more willing to compromise, the birdlike creatures having very patient natures. The _oumukade_ , however, Jack didn't even want to consider. In fact, Jack would have much preferred a chance to frost over a few of those human-eating centipedes, if they hadn't been hibernating due to their insectoid nature.

"That was easy," Ostara commented brightly once they'd managed to get everything settled. There hadn't been as many _yuki-onna_ as there were frost fairies, less than two dozen, so everything had been settled in around a week.

"I really have nothing to compare it to," Jack replied. It was still more work than the winter spirit had ever had to do. "I don't even want to consider a possible difficult task."

"Undoing the damage done by Snow Queen is going to take a while, so I don't think these new rises of winter spirits are going to go out of control," Ostara spoke. "It's taken several centuries for you to get energized properly to become her real replacement, so the winter energies were probably damaged by her abuse of them."

The other spirit had a point, and Jack knew he could trust in Ostara's expertise of seasonal magics. Jack was on Earth long before the Snow Queen fought the Guardians five centuries previously. If the energies had been Jack's since then, that meant that Jack had remained in stasis for two unneeded centuries after that point. A sudden surge of power should have broken the stasis, unless if Jack _hadn't_ received the power surge right away. Similarly, if the very magics of winter were damaged, it would explain why Jack still kept growing stronger several centuries after waking up to his powers.

"Hopefully I can fix all this," Jack murmured. "I've never had to do something like this before, leading people and solving disputes. And my predecessor just left me a mess to deal with."

"At least the slow returning of winter means that you'll be more likely to gain useful additional abilities before the spirit population grows exponentially," Ostara said with a grin. "Because I was only filling in, I never got the full powers of a sovereign, but I did get some power of suggestion."

"Wait." Jack frowned as he considered the wording. "That sounds like some kind of mind control."

Ostara grimaced. "Yeah, that's because it kind of is," the spring spirit explained. "It's more of a compulsion to obey, a kind of geass. The sovereign of a season can give those of their alignment commands and be sure they're obeyed." Ostara crossed her arms. "It's why Aster's always so careful to _ask_ me for things, to give me the chance to say 'no' if I want to."

"And you got a limited version of that power when you were filling in," Jack concluded. He scowled. "Any other weird dictator abilities I should know about?"

"Well, no one who falls under your jurisdiction can directly act against you," Ostara spoke hurriedly, like the speed the information was delivered with would soften the blow. "That's why Snow Queen got away with what she did. She held sovereignty over winter, so no winter spirit could oppose her, even as she drained all of their magic for herself."

Jack tried to imagine that, feeling himself weaken and knowing who was responsible for it while also being unable to act against the person responsible. The winter spirit shuddered. "That's horrifying."

"That's why the spring spirits are so lucky to have Aster," Ostara admitted. "Aster's other aspect is life, so we all know for certain that he'd never kill us just to increase his own power."

"I'd never do anything like that either," Jack said with conviction. "I'm not even strictly pleased with the boost in power I've gotten _so far_ and you said I still might get _more_. Just the thought of zapping someone else's powers makes me sick." He'd had magic before, even in his life as a regular Pooka. Pookas had magic, and their technology worked in conjunction with magic. Even so, this kind of vast power was way beyond anything any Pooka could have done.

He suddenly really understood why Bunny had been so against to having this job that he'd shoved it off on Ostara to deal with.

Ostara was now giving Jack a considering look. “Maybe _that’s_ why there are new winter spirits being born now.” The goddess gestured to the frost fairies they’d come to check up on after leaving Japan. “Since you don’t want the magic, there’s more to go around, enough for other spirits to begin manifesting.” The redhead smiled brightly. “Aster’s the same way. That’s why there are so many of us spring spirits.”

Jack sighed heavily as he considered all the implications. “The lives of spirits are a lot more complicated than I ever realized, being a former nomad and the only one of my kind,” the winter spirit grumbled. “All these power structures.”

“We kind of need them, since there are so many of us. Even those of us who aren’t Guardians and reliant on belief are shaped up by human tradition.” Ostara shrugged. She then smirked and gave Jack a wink before adding: “Can you imagine what a mess this world would be if _everything_ humans could come up with turned up for real?”

“Don’t even joke about that,” Jack said with a scoff. “Some of the stuff they come up with these days is made with the _purpose_ of being creepy as anything.” Although Jack doubted Ostara minded creepy, what with the thing she’d had going on with Calan Gaeaf for who knows how long.

Jack twirled his staff, and the gesture caught the attention of the frost fairies, who started chittering with excitement. They knew Jack using his powers here, dropping the temperature further, would let them work their magic even more.

Ostara had seen Jack do this little favor for his first followers before, and knew to step back as Jack summoned a cold wind to scatter the fluffy snow around them. It was too cold for the snow to pack together into tight rifts, and so the wind created small, glittering clouds across the air.

Suddenly the wind shifted, growing more aggressive, and Jack yelped when a power not his own knocked him forward. The wind almost blew him off the ground. It would have succeeded if Ostara’s arms hadn’t been around Jack’s waist the moment he rose up. The other spirit’s earthly connection anchored her, and the pair went tumbling to the icy ground together.

The frost fairies had barely noticed anything wrong, naively continuing their work. Jack groaned and Ostara rolled off of his back, stopping flattening his already pretty flat body.

“What _was_ that?” Ostara asked with a breathless voice, having probably had the wind knocked out of her by the sudden near-hurricane wind.

Jack pushed himself up, sitting beside the other seasonal spirit, her round shapes and warm colors contrasting sharply with his own angular shapes and winter colors. He peered into the gray sky, trying to spot a possible weather spirit that might have given his wind more oomph as a prank. There was no sign of any interference, it was almost like the extra magic had come out of nowhere.

“I really have no idea,” Jack confessed, bewildered. The wind had been incredibly cold, much more so than Jack had intended. This wasn’t his magic trying to wrench control away from him, he’d felt that before. This was someone else’s magic trying to influence his own, possibly to sabotage him.

The winter spirit scowled, determined. “Something’s going on here,” Jack said, voice dark, “and I’m going to find out what it is.”


	5. I'll Be the Watcher

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>   
>  They say we are what we are  
> But we don't have to be.  
> I'm bad behavior but I do it in the best way.  
> I'll be the watcher (watcher) of the eternal flame.  
> I'll be the guard dog of all your fever dreams.
> 
> ~ Fallout Boy - Immortals  
> 

“I have to say, these parties were the best idea you’ve ever had,” Tooth told Jack enthusiastically. “Inter-spirit relations have never been better!”

Tooth had a point. North's post-Christmas bashes had expanded far beyond simple skating gatherings, with refreshments, music and this year they even had live performances. Currently, Han Xiangzi and Väinämöinen were playing a slow melody on the _dizi_ and _kantele_ respectively. Apparently, the musical deities could appreciate good music no matter what side of the world it came from. Jack just hoped no one picked a drunken fight with Väinämöinen (he'd heard that the old man could literally make people sink into the ground with his singing voice alone).

The amount of guests was larger than ever before as well. The winter spirit had even spotted a few of the Centzon Totochtin getting drunk (where were the rabbit gods back when Jack had been playing 'Pooka or Earth Bunny' over Bunny's identity?). It just figured that the time he actually granted the Burgess Believers' wish to see more magical beings, the gathering had some of the worst role models imaginable present.

Jack scrunched up his face into an unimpressed expression. “I’m not sure if I should be offended or flattered by that.” Doomed by faint praise, as it were.

“I’m just saying that you don’t often volunteer your opinion unless it’s on an already established plan,” Tooth offered with a sheepish smile. “So far your personal plans have consisted of running off to fight Pitch by yourself and lying to Bunny about your heritage.”

Jack could guess that if that latter fiasco hadn’t ended with a surprising lack of fisticuffs, Tooth probably wouldn’t have found it amusing, although Jack did see her point. As for her former point…

“Hey,” Jack protested. “That second time _Pitch_ was the one who came around to attack _me_. It was totally not my fault.”

“Fair enough.” Tooth laughed before looking over to the skating rink. “There’s more people than ever before,” she noted before turning to give Jack a playful smile. “Why aren’t you showing them your stuff?”

Jack grimaced at the thought of trying to socialize with this many complete strangers. "In case you haven't noticed, I don't particularly care for crowded scenes."

Tooth crossed her arms and replied: "Frankly, it doesn't matter how bad you are: compared to Bunny, you're a social butterfly." Tooth tried to look around for the target of her small jibe, but Jack noticed that Bunny had managed to vanish masterfully, which actually proved Tooth's point. "The spirits who personally know Bunny are few and far between." She gave Jack's side a jab. "So get out there."

"I'd rather not leave this spot," Jack insisted. "I have a clear view of the kids from here."

"They're safe here, Jack," Tooth soothed the winter spirit. "Isn't that why you decided to bring them here?"

Jack watched the children who'd become his first believers as they played around with North's elves. They could have all the fun they wanted tonight with their parents none the wiser. Standard rules of being spirited away applied here, with the only exception being that Jack was fully intending to return the kids to their homes before morning.

"I wanted them to know this part of me," Jack explained to Tooth. "I'm pretty sure they see me as more of a guy with powers than actually something fundamentally different from them. I think they're old enough to get it if I show it to them like this." The winter spirit was smiling, because he liked the thought of his little friends _understanding_ him, but there was a shadow in his mind as he considered their increasing age.

"You're worried about something," Tooth noted, bending over to block Jack's line of sight and catch his attention fully. "What is it?"

Jack rolled his shoulders, not petulantly but because he wasn't completely settled with his own feelings. He still attempted to explain his thoughts and spoke out: "Almost all of them are turning thirteen this year. Soon they'll all be teenagers and not strictly children anymore."

"And that worries you?" Tooth tilted her head, not fully understanding. Jack supposed watching children grow up wasn’t anything out of the ordinary to her.

"I wonder if they'll still remember me, when they start to really mature." Jack placed his hands inside his pockets, like he could tuck away his worries as well. "Or if they'll just convince themselves it was a dream or a game of make-belief."

Tooth straightened and connected her hands behind her back, frowning in deep consideration. When she started to speak, it was slowly and in a careful tone of voice. "It's very common for childhood encounters to become misperceived as something less than they were." The look she gave Jack was a touch too sympathetic for Jack's tastes. "Is that why you brought them here?"

"I actually worried I might be running out of time to do something like this for them," Jack admitted, looking over at the children he was talking about. They’d left the elves to their devices and had climbed on the railings of the skating rink to look at the gathered spirits. The curious wonder they expressed had Jack smiling. "I wanted to make sure they had grand memories, even if they eventually convince themselves it wasn't real in the end."

When Tooth laid a hand on Jack's arm, the winter spirit jumped at the sudden contact. He turned to face his companion fully and looked down at the Tooth Fairy and saw Tooth giving him a warm, hopeful smile.

"It's also not unheard of that some would remember always, and with clarity," Tooth spoke, voice soft and reverent as she spoke of a precious, rare gift. "Some children grow into adults and never stop believing that there is magic in the world."

"That would be amazing," Jack said with a wistful sigh. "But, even if they wouldn't believe in _me_ , it would be enough if they never forget Fun or laughter."

"I wouldn't worry about that," Tooth replied in an assured tone. "Those kids have their hearts and eyes wide open." She also spared a look at the children and her smile widened. "They're already making friends with the guests." The smile faltered with confusion. "Is that _Puck_?"

Jack turned around to look over to the kids, and saw that they had abandoned their spirit watching in favor of seating themselves around a crouching spirit with long, furry ears. The kids were chattering quite enthusiastically with the stranger. Curious, Jack looked the spirit over carefully, never having seen Puck before. He was far from an outlandish trickster in his dress sense, wearing a light jacked that was an earthy brown color, several shades darker than his golden brown hair and fur. The long, goat-like ears and the lower body covered in thick fur where what marked him a trickster spirit.

"I've never seen Puck before," Jack admitted to Tooth as he watched the spirit in question pull out a set of pan-pipes from his satchel, letting the children try to figure the instrument out. He tilted his head to give Tooth a sheepish look. "Truth be told, I didn't think he was real."

"The Aos Sí are a private and closed off lot, even more so than our Bunny," Tooth explained as she studied Puck critically. Finally, she smiled and gave Jack a playful look. "It's no wonder he's fascinated by the kids; the Aos Sí don't get out much." She placed a hand on Jack's back and gave a nudge. "All the more reason to go talk to him, don't you think?"

"Yeah, yeah, okay," Jack conceded with a laugh. He started to walk over to the refreshment stand, where Caleb was enthusiastically playing the pan-flutes (if 'playing' meant 'making the kinds of obnoxious sounds that kids loved'). He figured he might as well check Puck out, since the kids apparently found him fun and Jack trusted their judgement.

Monty was the first one to notice Jack approaching, most likely because Puck had allowed Jamie to dig through his satchel like the curious little thing he was. The blond boy stood up from the floor and waved his hands enthusiastically. "Jack, we're over here!"

Jack laughed, jumping ahead to skip the rest of the distance. It wasn't quite flight, more like gliding over the ground, even when there was no ice to smooth the path. It was another new ability Jack had grown into during the last couple of years "Yeah, I could see you," the winter spirit said as he reached to ruffle Monty's hair. "It's why I came over." He turned his attention to Puck, who was straightening from his crouch. "Jack Frost," the winter spirit said companionably. "I see you've won over my entourage."

"I've always enjoyed the company of humans more than the rest of my kin do," Puck replied. He offered a hand to Claude, who enthusiastically high-fived him. He turned to grin at Jack. "I think the feeling is mutual."

"Any friend of this little band is a friend of mine," Jack assured the other, offering him a hand. "Nice to meet you, Puck."

"Likewise." The fae grabbed the offered appendage and shook it once, firmly. "’Puck’ is a nickname, but I'm sure 'Jack' is one too."

"Yeah, I don't judge," Jack replied with a grin. He noticed that Puck was close to being the same height as him, but faltered in his study of the other when he met his deep green eyes. He was struck with a strange sense of familiarity, even though he'd never even met this spirit before. He shook his head and glanced down, noticing something else out of place.

"Wait a minute." Jack looked back up at the trickster spirit. "Aren't you supposed to have cloven hooves?"

Puck lifted one of his feet and wiggles his furry toes. "Sure, sometimes, but rabbit feet are good luck."

The other spirit was a shape-shifter, Jack realized at those words. Before he could make a comment, another voice interrupted him.

"Jackie, come 'ere!" The gruff voice had Jack and Puck both turning into its direction. Bunny was walking around the skating rink, clearly not intent on making his way over through the throngs of people insider the rink and Jack felt Puck hiss from between his teeth. When Jack turned to look at the trickster, he was already out of sight. Instead he looked down at Cupcake.

"Where did Puck go?"

The girl just shrugged in response. Pippa piped up from beside her: "It's like he just vanished."

"Eh, fae," Jack grumbled under his breath, starting to head towards Bunny. "You kids go have fun while I check what Bunny Foo Foo wants."

The winter spirit could easily keep track of the Pooka's long ears, so getting over to his friend was pretty easy even as he took a shortcut through the crowded skating rink.

"Jackie." The first thing Bunny did when he was face to face with Jack was briefly nuzzle the winter spirit's chest. It was a gesture that had grown increasingly infrequent during the last two years, so Jack was positively surprised to be on the receiving end of it once more. He was also positively surprised to see a brunette standing beside Bunny. She looked older than the recollections Jack had seen of her, but he could definitely recognize her.

"Katherine," Jack spoke out, surprised to finally be meeting her without warning after all this time. He should greet her, he realized. However, instead of a greeting, what came out of his mouth was: "I was told I'd see you with a goose."

Katherine laughed. It was a nice laugh, loud and clearly a sound she was used to producing. She offered Jack her hand, all the while laughing, and Jack smiled as he gripped it.

"I sure hope not," Katherine spoke, voice a touch breathless from her brief laughing fit. "I've taught her better than to come wandering into crowded rooms like this." She released Jack's hand. "She's in the stables, it's quieter there."

Jack gave the young woman a sheepish grin. "I was going to say it's nice to meet you," he said with a shrug. "I don't know why _that_ came out instead."

"I really didn't mind," Katherine spoke in a voice that was clear and steady, a storyteller's voice. "I've been spending the last decades mapping out the Separated Frontiers with Nightlight, I know real rudeness."

Still unsure of many aspects of the spirit realm, Jack frowned in confusion. "The Separated Frontiers?" he repeated curiously.

"Some call them parallel universes," Katherine clarified. "The areas that exist in magic but not in physics, imperceptible to human means of locating objects."

Jack crossed his arms, frowning deeper as he thought. "Like Asgard?" he asked. "Is that even real?"

"Asgard would be a more complicated version of a Frontier," Katherine said with a nod. "But they don't have to be self-contained like that. They can also exist between the layers of reality." She lifted a hand and waved it to the general direction of a window. "Like, how Mictlanpachecatl and his brothers reside in a layer of the atmosphere that humans aren't even aware exists."

"And you've been mapping these things?" Jack considered that. "Must be a lot of hard work."

"Oh, it is. Especially when particularly reclusive spirits didn’t want to cooperate," Katherine agreed readily. "It's also very much worth it. I want to do more than just record stories. I want to understand all the particularities of our way of living." The brunette grinned. "I didn't start off as a spirit, so I don't take these things for granted."

Jack's face also wore a grin as he directed his attention to Bunny, who had so far just been watching the two interact. "Is that scientific curiosity your influence, plant geek?"

Bunny crossed his arms and huffed. "Hardly," he said with a scoff. "Katherine here was raised long ago by a wizard who existed between humanity and spirits. He taught her everything he knew."

Katherine leaned over towards Jack to say in an exaggerated whisper: "Ombric was the archetypical old mentor type, so you can guess how surprised Nick and I were when we met Bunny and he had Ombric completely beat in the 'crotchety old man' department."

"Ombric never acted his age," Bunny argued huffily. He uncrossed his arms to place them on his hips. "Never mind that I actually _was_ older, so I was fully justified."

"Sure you were," Jack said with a smirk while Katherine giggled. The discussion came to a pause when a hand tugged on the back of Jack's hoodie. The winter spirit turned around to look down at Jamie, who showed him a thick, ancient-looking tome.

"Jack, can I borrow this?" the boy asked, always polite.

Jack considered. "What is it?" he asked. "Is it one of North's spell books?" While he wasn't against Jamie learning how magic worked, per se, he _was_ very much against the boy scrolling through some random book that might itself contain magic.

That didn't seem to be a problem, however, as Jamie just shook his head and said: "It's an encyclopaedia."

"Yeah, sure then," Jack agreed readily. "Guidebooks are safe for kids."

Jamie's face was instantly brightened by a wide smile. "Thank you, Jack!" he cheered and turned around to undoubtedly go show off his find to his friends. Jack, however, had another thought and placed a hand on the boy's shoulder.

"Wait a bit," he said by a way of explanation before turning to Katherine again. "Katherine, do you want to meet the Burgess Believers? Maybe share a story from your travels? The kids love stories."

Katherine was smiling so brightly that Jack was sure of her response even before she said: "Jack, I would _love_ to meet the brave children I've only heard about." She grabbed Bunny to drag the Pooka along before she started following Jack and Jamie towards the other children. "I think I have just the thing. I could tell them how I found the World Tree."

"World Tree?" Bunny visibly perked up, leaping to walk beside Katherine. "You probably couldn't botanically classify it, even if a metaphysical manifestation in the shape of a tree could be classified by conventional concepts, but if you describe it to me in detail, I could probably make some educated guesses."

Jack made a face, at which Jamie started snickering under his hand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More side character spirits showing up, just because I'm a huge nerd. Seriously, at this point, all these bit parts exist just so that I have an excuse to look stuff up.
> 
> [Han Xiangzi](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Han_Xiangzi) is one of the Eight Immortals in the Chinese Taoist pantheon, and he's considered the patron deity of flutists. Han Xiangzi's identifying object is the _dizi_ , which is a Chinese flute.
> 
> [Väinämöinen](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V%C3%A4in%C3%A4m%C3%B6inen) is a character from the Finnish national epic Kalevala. He's considered the god of chants, songs and poetry. J.R.R. Tolkien's Tom Bombadil is suspected of having been inspired by myths about Väinämöinen.
> 
> [The Centzon Totochtin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centzon_Totochtin) are the "four hundred rabbits", who are deities of Aztec mythology that have frequent parties and stand for over-indulgence, being the gods of drunkenness.
> 
> [Mictlanpachecatl](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mictlanpachecatl), Cihuatecayotl, Tlacoayotl and Huitztlampaehecatl are the Aztec gods that personify the winds coming from north, west, east and south.


	6. Are You Sad Because You're on Your Own?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>   
>  What do I do when my love is away?  
> (Does it worry you to be alone?)  
> How do I feel by the end of the day?  
> (Are you sad because you're on your own?)  
> No I get by with a little help from my friends  
> Mm I get high with a little help from my friends  
> Mm gonna try with a little help from my friends
> 
> ~ The Beatles - With a Little Help from My Friends  
> 

Jack stuck around the Workshop even after the party was finished. This was primarily because Katherine and Nightlight were staying as well. Bunny had even offered to return the Burgess Believers back to their homes so that Jack could, as the newest Guardian, get to know some of the first ones.

The group sat together in a cosy den, on plush chairs with some heated cider to set the calm atmosphere for reminiscence. There's been some dragging around of the furniture to set them in a close circle. Jack surprised everyone with how much strength his body had (so he shifted and cheated a bit, but North was amused by it regardless).

Jack had chosen the chair farthest away from the fireplace, while Tooth took the one opposite to that. Nightlight and Katherine seated themselves on a loveseat next to Tooth, while North seated himself between them and Jack. Sandy sat down on Tooth's other side, wiggling his brows at Jack as he pointedly left the seat next to the winter spirit empty, for their missing member. Jack didn't appreciate the sass, but he did very much appreciate the history lesson that ensued. Especially since a strange blanket of exhaustion had the winter spirit very much glued to his chair as the first Guardians told their tales.

Nightlight was the one who told Jack that North had been the first one to really fight for the Guardians' mission statement. His mentor Ombric had given him the task to protect the world's children from the things that went bump in the night. Ombric's other student, Katherine had become North's first companion, and the two had encountered Nightlight soon enough when they'd been on the job.

Nightlight had always been there to watch over the most defenceless individuals of the human race. He'd come to Earth together with Bunny, but the two had parted ways due to their different missions on the planet. Bunny was to watch over the planet's life force, while Nightlight was to take a more direct approach.

Before the age of humanity, Nightlight's primary mission had been to watch over Pitch's prison. Jack felt a bit vindicated when he heard just what kind of a fate had awaited Pitch when he'd tried to hunt down the last prince of the Golden Age. As far as Jack was concerned, it served the Nightmare King right to be locked away in suspended animation, unable to influence anything.

“That sounds really dull, though,” Jack couldn’t help but point out when Nightlight discussed his first assignment. “Just watching over Pitch’s prison.” He made a face as he considered it. If it was him, he’d like to needle the Nightmare King a bit, but that option was right out if Pitch was frozen.

Nightlight shrugged his shoulders with a helpless look. It was Katherine who provided a verbal response, saying: “Nightlight doesn’t really experience the passage of time the way we do.” The brunette lifted up a storybook pointedly. “I only grew to understand it once I became the Guardian of Stories. Some things are timeless, and some things exist outside of time.”

Jack frowned, crossing his arms in a thinking posture. “I still don’t get it,” he finally admitted.

“I don’t get tired or hungry,” Nightlight spoke up. “If there’s nothing to hold my attention, I stop being cohesive.” He raised a hand and it pulsed with moonlight. “I’m made from light, so I can just turn into ambivalent light when I don’t need to interact with things.”

“I just slept to pass the time,” Jack answered. The other two already knew his background from arrival on Earth to the present (well, as much as Jack himself knew at any matter). He scowled when a thought crossed his mind. “Of course, since I was asleep, the Moon was free to mess with my powers with no permission.” He sprinkled some frost flakes around. “I used to be able to grow plants, but I suppose that’s out of the books now.”

The words brought a strange expression to Nightlight’s face. It wasn’t just thoughtfulness. There was consideration there, like the other spirit recognized something about Jack’s situation. The winter spirit raised an eyebrow at him and prompted: "Yeah?"

"Oh." Nightlight jumped a bit, apparently having been in too deep thought to realize he'd trailed off. His expression was severe when he claimed: "The Tsar Lunar _had_ a right to do that, as far as I know."

Jack's eyes widened, as did everyone else's. In that case, this was something only Nightlight knew. Of course, as the Man in the Moon's trusted protector, Nightlight probably had a lot of information that not even the other Guardians were privy to.

As soon as Jack got over his shock, he traded over to affronted. "Exactly _what_ right could he possibly have?" As much as the words expressed his disbelief, Jack also wondered if this was where he'd finally find out exactly how the Moon's mind worked. Nightlight seemed to have a completely different perspective on their distant leader than the rest of them.

"While it's true that it's not like the Tsar Lunar to ask for things, he wasn't completely misplaced." Nightlight's voice was a bit hesitant, like he expected Jack to explode at him. Even his expression was apologetic when he offered: "He was raised by robots that didn't need to be asked for things, and we don't talk much. So the Tsar Lunar prefers to do things without communicating much."

"It's still not much of an excuse," Jack said with a huff. "Even if it does explain why he just expects us to _know_ things and jump when he says so." He crossed his arms and gave Nightlight a piercing look. "So why did he think _I_ in particular would be happy to be a winter power receptacle?"

"I suppose he assumed that the alliance between the Lunanoff family and the Pookas extended to such things," Nightlight answered. "The Pookas have been long-time allies of the family since the Golden Age." He frowned. "Now that I recall, Mother Nature had Bunny renew that alliance back when we first arrived on this planet." His expression darkened further. "Frankly, I'm not entirely sure if Bunny knew what he was agreeing to, and Mother Nature might have intended it that way."

Mother Nature was real. Well, of course she was. Jack was starting to learn that practically everything was real, at least to some degree. But, since she did exist and seemed to be a bit underhanded in the name of the great good, it just made sense that she'd be an ally of the Man in the Moon.

"Are they friends then or something?" Jack asked. "Mother Nature and the Man in the Moon?"

The reactions he got varied. Sandy waved his hand in a type of 'somewhat' gesture, while Tooth made a face that was very close to a grimace. North merely shrugged, a gesture that was repeated in almost exactly the same way by Katherine.

"They both work towards the upkeep of balance, but they don't particularly interact with each other," Nightlight tried to explain.

"They're both reclusive," Katherine specified. "Mother Nature gets personally involved more often, but that's mostly because she doesn't belong in having anyone serve as her proxy."

"She's a control freak," Tooth added in, even as Katherine tried to hush her.

Jack nodded his head once, understanding what the others were getting at even though he didn't fully know the context. Jack had come far enough to realize that the more powerful spirits got, the harder it was for others to deal with them. Even as he was merely guessing, Jack was pretty certain that Mother Nature was particularly powerful, ancient and set in her ways. Definitely one for the 'hope I never run into' list.

"Still, this all doesn't explain why the Moon took away my memories," Jack pointed out. "Or why he had me be stuck in a different shape." He gestured down at his human form. Sure, he was so used to it that it was a part of who he was by now, but he hadn't chosen to adopt that duality. It wasn't a natural part of his own identity.

"The shape could be the foreign magic attaching itself to your shape-shifting," Katherine offered. "Since you do look somewhat similar to the Snow Queen now."

"Similar magics look alike," North added with a sagely nod. "Especially when magics are so specific."

"Guesswork is better than nothing, I guess," Jack said with a sigh. "I really doubt the same explanation is true for my amnesia."

Nightlight's expression turned severe. "Your people are all dead," the warrior spoke softly. "Have you considered that Tsar Lunar might have wanted to spare you that pain?"

Jack considered it, eyes focused on Nightlight's expression. The other's words were more than a guess; he knew something. The winter spirit clasped his hands together and spoke: "I'm not sure if it's because it happened so long ago or because my memories of the people I knew are so fresh, but I've pretty much come to terms with what happened." His hands clenched together. "Still doesn't mean I won't try to bash Pitch's head in when I next see him, though."

Nightlight watched Jack for a moment, the other Guardians also ruminating on what Jack had said. Then, Nightlight simply said: "You're really well-adjusted."

"Thanks." Jack was rather taken back by the sincere praise, Nightlight's matter-of-fact delivery adding to the effect. He reached up to tug on a couple of strands of his hair, unable to help the nagging worry he felt. "Why did you think I wouldn't be?"

"Bunny really wasn't," Nightlight answered simply. His shoulders hunched up as he crossed his arms. "He _really_ wasn't."

"Are you referring to your battle with Pitch?" Jack asked. "Because Bunny really wasn't in such a bad place during that." He didn't like seeing a friend so down, even a new one like Nightlight. He just didn't know exactly how to make the other feel better. He shrugged. "It's a Pooka thing; falling in battle is not a big deal to us." In hindsight, that probably explained his own devil-may-care attitude during fights.

"I've seen those memories," Tooth offered as well, leaning over to lay a hand on Nightlight's own. "Bunny was fine."

"He still had hope then," Nightlight said, turning his hand in Tooth's hold to grip the fairy back. "He was pretty bad off when he figured there'd be no other Pookas beside him."

"Bunny told me about that," Jack said, and saw some kind of frightened shock come over the other's face. He frowned a bit at the strength of that reaction. "He told me he used to sleep away lifetimes because he was just so tired." He leaned back in his seat. "He assured me that he's gotten out of that place, and I'm inclined to believe him."

"Of course," Nightlight said. "It's been such a long time since then, after all." Now the moonlit spirit looked sheepish. "I'm sorry, the memories are difficult for me."

Jack could guess why. He'd himself felt an immense powerlessness just when Bunny had _told_ him about that point in his life, and Nightlight had been there to witness it. To make matters worse they'd each been each other's only friends at that point in time. There had been no other support for either of them when they'd felt like toppling over.

"You know, I think you need new memories," Jack said and got a curious look from Nightlight. The winter spirit smiled. "Even though Bunny's fine now, you're still bothered when you remember what he used to be like. I think you should spend time with the present Bunny and really see how far he's come since then." He gave the other a knowing look. "I haven't known you for long, but I'm pretty sure you haven't been spending a lot of time with Bunny for a long time. You could probably both use it."

"You...might have a point," Nightlight confessed, albeit haltingly. "I suppose I have been distracted by other things for the past half a millennium." He looked over to the brunette sitting beside him, and Jack guessed the look had more than one meaning when Katherine reached out to pat his chest comfortingly.

"We could both use some time to get to know our friends again," Katherine said with conviction. She turned to give Jack a grateful look, and Jack inclined his head in acknowledgement. Her smile brightened and she spoke: "And if I need to collect some data, I'm sure Jack wouldn't mind accompanying me on a small excursion." She winked. "You seemed really interested in the Separated Frontiers."

The offer was actually rather alluring. Jack nodded his head. "Sure. Sounds like fun." He could even tell the kids all about it once he got back.

Jack's human form didn't have as keen ears as his Pookan one, but he could still hear the heavy footfalls of over six feet of pure muscle several moments before Bunny entered the den. The Pooka gave them all a greeting nod, his eyes bright as he walked over and leaned around Jack's chair to give him a playful look.

"What's fun?" he asked with a grin. "Should I be worried about you lairing something up?"

"Expeditions," Katherine answered, clasping her hands with childlike glee.

"And you can't come," Jack said and pointed a finger at Bunny's face. "You have Easter preparations starting soon."

The Pooka scoffed, scuffing his knuckles over Jack's head before sitting down in the only remaining seat. "I don't need you of all people dobbing in about my responsibilities."

"I'm just a regular ball and chain," Jack muttered as a joke, realizing only a moment later what a terrible idea joking along _those_ lines was.

However, the sentence seemed to fly completely over Bunny's head if the confused look he gave Jack was any clue. Then it seemed it was actually his ears (which had worked perfectly when catching conversation turns from the hallway) that were the problem, when the Pooka said: "What's that?"

Jack shook his head with a sigh. "Never mind that," he said. "More importantly, what took you so long? Did the kids give you trouble?"

Bunny shook his head. "Nah, the ankle biters were on their best behaviour," he assured Jack. "But there was a small blizzard, right out of nowhere." The Pooka waved his hand to emphasise the suddenness. "It clogged up my tunnels temporarily."

Jack frowned. "Wasn't one of mine." He was also the only winter spirit in these parts; the frost fairies weren't strong enough for that. He wondered what was up.

"I know it wasn't you, mate," Bunny said as he settled more comfortably into his chair. "For one, you were here all along."

How likely was it that the cause of the blizzard had also known that Jack would be otherwise occupied tonight? For the weather to catch Bunny so off-guard, it had to have been caused by someone, but who had that kind of power? Was that why he'd felt so tired before? He felt much better now, so it was likely that the blizzard had drawn from his power. Possibly not even a winter spirit, then. It could have been a witch. But what kind of a witch would benefit from something like that?

When Jack broke out of his trail of thought, he noticed that everyone was staring at him.

"Is something wrong, Jack?" Tooth asked in a worried tone.

"Something about Bunny's blizzard, perhaps?" North offered, even as Bunny grumbled: "Wasn't 'mine' just because I spotted it."

"There's something fishy about it," Jack said, crossing his arms and frowning in consideration. "I'll need to do some detective work tomorrow."

"Need any help?" Katherine offered kindly.

"Yeah, probably," Jack said, even though he didn't like the idea of pushing his problems on his friends like this. "I have a lot of ground to cover."

"You can count on us, Jack," Tooth said eagerly, clenching a hand into a fist. "I'm an expert at covering a lot of ground."

Jack smiled. "Thanks," he said, truly meaning it. Somehow, this mystery didn't seem all that foreboding with his friends there to help him.


	7. From Deep Sleep I Have Broken Away

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>   
>  Crystallized, as I lay here and rest  
> Eyes of glass stare directly at death  
> From deep sleep I have broken away  
> No one knows, no one hears what I say  
> ~ Metallica - Trapped Under Ice  
> 

The ground was slippery as Jamie made his way to school. Monty had already tripped once and almost a second time before he clamped a hand down on Jamie's arm for the support. The children had resolved to walk the rest of the way to school like that, supporting each other in order to stay upward.

They both almost got blown over when Jack Frost dropped out of the sky, accompanied by an intense gust of wind. Jack managed to grab a hold of Jamie with one hand, however, while Monty hung on to Jamie tighter.

"Whoa, sorry about that, kids," the winter spirit spoke in a rush. "I'm in a bit of a hurry today."

"It's kind of noticeable," Jamie commented when he had a secure footing again. "What's up?"

"I-is there anything we can do?" Monty offered helpfully, voice shaky from his near-fall.

"Depends," Jack started vaguely. "Have you kids seen anything weird around here?"

"This is Burgess, Jack," Jamie replied deadpan. "Around here, things flip between perfectly boring and perfectly weird constantly."

"Fair enough." Jack glanced around the street, like he expected to see whatever it was he was looking for. "There was an out-of-season blizzard last night. I didn't do it, but Bunny says it hit here. Did you guys notice anything that might be connected?"

"I couldn't see much of anything when the wind threw specs in my eyes," Monty said with a huff. "Mom told me to take out the trash when it was still starting, since it 'wasn't so bad'."

Jack smiled good-naturedly at the blond boy. "So, nothing else."

"Not really," Monty admitted with a shrug. "It wasn't really _that_ much of a blizzard, it wasn't even enough to get us today off school."

"You wouldn't be able to do something about that, would you?" Jamie asked eagerly. "Whip us a bit of a snow day for old time's sake?"

Jack laughed at that, shaking his head. "No can do, kiddos," the winter spirit said. "It's kind of too late for that, both for this day and for the season." He swung his staff purposefully, in a gesture that Jamie had learned was a prelude to a take-off. "You just have to hang in there."

"Easy for you to say," Jamie grumbled in half-hearted petulance. "You don't even have to walk."

"Yeah, but I have some serious detective work to do to make up for it," Jack replied.

"Tell us if you find anything," Monty said insistently.

The winter spirit grinned broadly. "Can do, see you anklebiters around!" With those words and a whoop, Jack vanished back into the sky.

Jamie and Monty watched their friend fly off for a moment. Then, Jamie commented: "He's spending too much time around Bunny."

"Never mind that we're not even young enough to be called that," Monty added. "Isn't that used for little kids?"

"We'll probably always be little kids to Jack," Jamie said, crossing his arms. "It's a weird thing grownups do."

"Hey! Slowpokes! Get going!" a voice called from behind the boys. The pair jumped and whirled around, seeing Pippa running to catch up with them. "We're all gonna be late!" the girl continued in a high voice.

Jamie shot Monty a look. "Time for our grownup responsibilities."

"School is a child's work," Monty said solemnly. The effect was ruined, however, when Pippa dashed between them suddenly, causing the blond boy to yelp. The girl paid no heed to the frozen over ground as she expertly jumped from a melted spot to the next. The boys quickly followed her lead in order to not get left behind.

\--

It was really unfortunate that the key location for this mystery blizzard was Burgess of all places. On the upside, it helped ascertain a possible motive; Burgess was Jack Frost's territory and messing with it would be a good way to mess with Jack. This meant that the culprit was most likely someone who had a bone to pick with Jack. On the downside, because Burgess was widely known to be Jack's territory, stay spirits rarely wandered there unless they were blatantly disrespecting Jack. This meant that any eyewitnesses would most likely be uncooperative, when they weren't utterly nonexistent.

In the case of the blizzard, the problem was the latter. There was no one to interrogate. Even the kids had already been deposited at home when the blizzard started. It was hard to solve a case with no leads to speak of.

Last Jack had seen of Katherine before he'd taken off for Burgess, the young woman had been perusing her thick tome of everything for any stories, legends or myths that could give birth to a troublesome winter spirit that would be giving Jack grief now. Nightlight, meanwhile, had flown up into the air to ask the four great winds if someone had abused their power to create the storm (Jack blamed his own hermit nature for him not having thought of that).

Frankly, Jack was fully expecting them to come back with better results than he himself had. Mostly this was due to the fact that the other two gave off a strange air of professionalism that Jack hadn't even seen from the other Guardians. Then again, the two returned Guardians weren't as swamped with work as the other four, so it could just be that the others' goofing off was a result of people working hard needing to really let go in their downtime.

Regardless of Jack's expectations, when the group gathered to compare notes at North's workshop by the end of the day, all three of them came back empty-handed. Nightlight hadn't managed to get any answers, while Katherine's own research had proven fruitless.

"The only spirit I have on record whose weather powers are strong enough in the Snow Queen," the Guardian of Stories explained apologetically. She was a grown woman, but the enormous arm chair (North's no doubt) made her look smaller and younger. "But we took care of her centuries ago. For her to remain silent for so long only to come back now wouldn't make any sense."

"Except if we really are connected in spirit somehow," Jack mused, the very thought of such a deep connection making his skin crawl. "I've been growing stronger in the last couple of years; could she have too?"

"She'd have to have been alive before your powers started growing for that to happen," Katherine answered. "Very often, the rules of magic follow the most basic forms of physics. She's had to have had a physical receptacle for the power to go for her to have made use of it." Katherine's expression hardened. "When we defeated her, she faded into inexistence. There was nothing physical left for her spirit and magic to cling to."

The statement reminded Jack of something that he'd heard about the Snow Queen before. "Like the spirits whose magic she stole," he spoke out. "She took away so much that their physical bodies faded away."

"You're right," Nightlight added from his position perching on the back of Katherine's armchair. "The connection goes both ways, one can't exist without the other."

"Without magic, the physical body of a spirit fades away, and without a physical body, the magical energies disperse," Katherine clarified. "For the Snow Queen to use her magic, she would need to exist in a physical shape of some form."

Jack released a heavy sigh as he slumped back in his own chair, sinking into the incredibly soft cushions. It was a soothing sensation after flying around for most of the day, trying to hunt down anything that might be a clue. Comfortable as he was, he still couldn't keep the disappointment from his voice as he spoke: "So, we basically have less than nothing to go on."

The group of three barely had time to feel despair sink in when Tooth fluttered in, looking as pleased as ever. It certainly caught the attention of the sullen group, who turned to look at her with varying stages of offence and curiosity.

"I got something!" Tooth proclaimed while flying in a dramatic swoop over the group, landing gracefully in one of the remaining armchairs. "Well, actually, my minifairies really got it, since they noticed it while doing their rounds. While that's true, I'm still the one who noticed that there was a pattern going on so yes, some of the credit goes to me as well."

"Tooth!" Katherine hissed, reaching out to grasp one of the Tooth Fairy's wildly gesticulating hands. "What exactly did you and your fairies notice?"

Tooth's eyes shone with excitement as she spoke her great revelation: "The blizzard wasn't contained to Burgess. It was worldwide."

The other three spirit sat straighter when they heard that, focusing fully on Tooth.

"You're sure about that?" Katherine asked after Nightlight gave her shoulder a slight nudge.

Tooth nodded her head. "Yes, I'm sure," she ascertained. "My girls work around the clock, so the reports came in at different times, but all of them encountered colder weather and out-of-season downpour, from rain to actual snow." Tooth gave Jack an expectant look. "Does that help out?"

"Depends," Jack mused. "Was there any variation in intensity of the phenomenon? If we could find the source of it all..."

Now Tooth's expression hardened. "There was one," she said, growing more sombre as the exhilaration of discovery wore off while she considered the meaning of her discovery. "The weather grew more extreme in locations that were further South."

Jack shot a look at Katherine. After all that effort the young woman had put into assuring Jack that it wasn't possible, this was dropped in their laps.

"There's only one thing to do, then," Jack said decidedly, the other's returning his intense look with a determined one of their own. "We're investigating the Derelict Down South."


	8. The Same Old Place

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>   
>  Here we are again  
> the same old place  
> there's still a fire inside  
> and new lines on my face
> 
> Everything's the same  
> but it's all changed  
> the pieces still make the same picture  
> even though they've been rearranged
> 
> ~ Sea Wolf - Visions  
> 

"Is this place some kind of a conduit?" Jack asked the other three Guardians when they arrived at the Derelict Up North. "Did the Snow Queen use it for her spells?" Her goal had been to bring about eternal winter, after all, and the Guardians _had_ considered her a serious threat, so she very likely had been able to deliver.

There was a disgruntled grumble from Tooth at Jack's choice of address towards her former adversary. Jack didn't pay it much mind at that point, however, as he was more focused on getting an answer to his question.

"The castle is a manifestation of power, but not its source," Nightlight answered while giving the grand hall a critical look. "The fact that it's still unchanged tells us just how much power went into it."

"It's the winter castle," Katherine added as she walked over to a carved wall. "It'll probably exist as long as there's winter." She laid a hand on the carving. "For everything bad associated with it, there's also good, just like no season is by itself only good or bad." The brunette released a soft laugh. "See? There's a beautiful image of a sunrise here."

"Considering who built it, I'd almost expect a sunset," Tooth grumbled, arms crossed more from her mood than the cold. "I would expect that kind of half-hearted symbolism from that witch."

"I don't think she could manage even half a heart, to be honest," Nightlight commented. "She didn't really feel like we do, except in most extreme cases."

"This castle could well be old enough to precede the Snow Queen," Katherine said, rejoining the conversation even as she didn't remove her gaze from the wall. "It could very well be that these carvings were made by someone else."

"Or then she really liked ice, enough to make a castle of ice into the grandest it could be," Jack joined in. "I mean, she wanted to have _everything_ be winter, it was the one thing she cared about."

Jack knew that the Snow Queen had built the castle, even though he'd never met her. But there was a part of her in him and a part of her in here. Both Jack and the Derelict held what remained of her power. The Snow Queen had made the castle as her base of operations, so she'd made it the very image of winter.

The winter spirit turned away from the wall carvings, scanning the rest of the throne room. The pillars that depicted ferocious monsters that the Snow Queen had been able to raise from the ice to fight for her were now lifeless and devoid of magic. Jack suspected that magic like that would be the first to fade, without the Snow Queen around to feed it power. The throne itself, however, Jack believed had never held any magic. It had merely been something showy, a sign of self-declared status more than power.

"I don't think this room has anything to do with that freak storm," Jack spoke out loud, gaining the attention of his allies. "Are there any other focal points besides the throne room?"

"The mirror in the back," Tooth answered easily. "After the throne room, it's the most logical place to search."

"We should get on that, then." Jack started to move across the wide room to get to the room in the back. "Nothing seems out of place out here." He opened the door to the mirror room and entered, trusting that his companions would be following soon enough.

At first nothing seemed out of place. The room had always been startlingly blank in comparison to the grand throne room, and the mirror frame was still standing in its spot in the middle of the room. After a moment of observing the room, however, Jack did notice something wasn't quite as it was supposed to be.

The mirror was nothing more than an empty frame. Someone had removed the shards that had still been stuck to the frame.

"Bingo," Jack muttered as he walked closer to the mirror, leaning in to observe the frame itself. It still held the same carvings of faes as the last time Jack had seen it, so it was either a very good forgery or the actual frame with just the mirror shards removed.

"Oh," Katherine's voice came from the doorway. "Someone's taken the remaining shards of the mirror!" There was some shuffling from behind Jack as the other three Guardians moved closer, possibly also determining which of them had the magical know-how to check the mirror frame.

In the end, it was Katherine who leaned down next to Jack. "Remarkable," the brunette muttered. "I had no idea you could even remove the shards from the frame."

"They should vanish when removed," Tooth commented from further away. The shards that broke off during the battle five hundred years ago vanished after a few minutes. The frame is meant to literally hold the mirror together."

"So it's possible that the thief can't use the shards in the long run?" Nightlight queried, voice slightly muffled. When Jack turned his head it was revealed that this was because the moonlit warrior was knelt down on the floor, checking it over for any tracks. Jack wondered if he'd really be able to pick out any fresh markings from those that had come from age.

"Not if they haven't found a way to keep the shards' magical energies from dispersing once they were removed from the frame," Tooth answered.

"Whoever it was knew enough about the mirror to use it to create that blizzard," Katherine spoke out then, still eyeing the mirror frame. "Magic has been run through the frame recently, traces of it still linger." The brunette then sighed, and shook her head. "But I can't determine who it was. _That_ is why the shards were removed. They can contain more magic than the frame itself, which exists to balance magical energies."

"The mirror glass was the most potent part of the mirror," Tooth added. "So it might well be that our perpetrator removed the shards not to use them, but to cover their tracks."

"They covered their tracks very well, so it might have been a priority," Nightlight spoke, standing up from his observations of the ice floor. "None of the wards set around the palace or this room have been tripped."

Jack raised a hand. "Actually, I'm a hermit and a nomad, so I've ever set up wards, and I usually manage to avoid running into any." He crossed his arms. "So it someone could explain how wards work, that'd be great."

Katherine was the one to explain, complete with something that Jack was tempted to call a 'teacher voice'. "There are different kinds of wards," the brunette started to speak with flourish. "They're magical borders set around locations that can inform their creator of someone crossing over or can even stop someone from crossing over the ward." There was a clear passion for knowledge shining in the gray eyes as Katherine carried on: "Even humans could work this magic in older times, drawing lines in the ground that would function as spiritual fences around certain spots."

"Right." Jack drew the word out, not entirely sure that he was understanding this correctly. He knew that the wards at the castle had to be the notifying ones, since Jack had one point or another investigated most of the castle without hitting invisible walls or getting shocked with magical protective precautions. "So if it's a fence, can it be jumped over?" Was that what the intruder had done, done the magical equivalent of jumping over a fence?

"That shouldn't be possible," Katherine insisted. "The ward functions on the principle of the fence reaching as far as it could go. Folklore often viewed the sky as a lid over the earth, so the fence should reach that lid, leaving no space to move over it."

When it came to spirits, belief was stronger than the laws of physics every time. That meant, that if spirits had drawn such fences around the winter palace, then no amount of facts about the infinity of space could give another spirit a chance to slither in to the other side without somehow coming in contact with the fence. Which explained why the Guardians (and Calan Gaeaf) had known that Jack had investigated the castle way before any of the recent trouble with it.

"I can probably figure out the rest from that," Jack spoke out. "And I know for a fact that there are some spirits that still check here whenever someone breaks in." The winter spirit tapped a foot as he considered. "Which means that our mysterious mirror thief knew how to avoid setting off any alarms."

"There was some added security from the party at North's," Nightlight pointed out. "If something had gone wrong, there would have been a great deal of distance to cover for anyone coming in to check."

"Which means that they knew about the party," Tooth concluded. "That means we aren't dealing with some kind of unknown here. _Someone_ has had contact with our perpetrator at some point."

"Maybe whoever they learned how to bypass wards from," Jack suggested. "How widely-spread is that kind of an ability?"

"There are some select ways of avoiding triggering wards," Nightlight answered. "Most threshold spirits have the ability naturally, like our Toothiana."

Jack looked over to Tooth, who wiggled her fingers at him. He frowned. "What's a threshold spirit?"

"Spirits that exist within boundaries," Tooth replied. "The memories I guard place me between past and present, while Sandy exists in between dreaming and awake states."

"Yeah, that makes sense," Jack said with a nod. Magic followed a certain whimsical logic. Although it gave him a worrying idea. "What about Pitch?" he asked.

"Pitch is _the_ fear spirit, but the moniker of Nightmare King isn't literal," Tooth answered easily. She shrugged her shoulders. "That was why the Nightmare creatures surprised us. They _do_ have threshold powers that Pitch lacks, so his nightmare sand could get into places he personally couldn't."

"Even so, Pitch doesn't _make_ his Nightmares," Katherine added. "He corrupts good dreams with fear and anxiety." The brunette's expression turned sombre. "It's a cycle of darkness, where Pitch corrupts good things the same way he was once corrupted."

Jack made a noncommittal grunt, not really feeling the empathy Katherine was directing at the dark spirit. When the gray eyes gave him a look of curiosity, the winter spirit grumbled: "You'll forgive me if I'm not exactly in a hurry to feel sorry for the man responsible for the genocide of my entire species."

"Oh, right." Katherine's hands fumbled, clearly wishing for something to grasp as she dealt with the reminder of Pitch's past deeds. "I'm sorry if I seemed insensitive to how _you've_ suffered."

"It's fine." Jack reached up to tug on his hair with his fingers. "You like to see the good in people, even when we'd rather think it doesn't exist."

"Does that make the loss easier to deal with?" Katherine asked before her eyes widened and she lowered her gaze. "I mean, uh, if you don't mind me asking?"

Jack glanced over to Nightlight and Tooth, who both looked a bit at a loss. Jack still figured out what the problem was and said: "You haven't experienced loss like that, so it's hard for me to explain."

"Loss is different for each individual," Tooth added. She moved closer to lay a hand on the younger woman's shoulder. "It's not something that can be studied."

"I'm not trying to _study_ it!" Katherine hissed defensively. "I just want to _understand_."

"I think it's better if you don't ever really understand," Nightlight spoke out in his soft tones. The look he gave Katherine at the words was full of protective affection.

"Sometimes I feel like you all still see me as just Nicholas' little sister," Katherine said with a huff. She then sighed. "But, you do have a point. I wouldn't want to lose all I knew just to know what it feels like."

"We like that you don't have the same baggage we do," Tooth said brightly, grinning at a surprised-looking Katherine. "It makes us feel less like disasters."

Jack couldn't help but chuckle at that. It was true, that having Katherine around made him feel like the world was wider than he ever imagined. He supposed witnessing the limitless possibilities life had to offer made it easier to not think about the possibilities lost along the way.

"So, about those wards." the winter spirit spoke out, directing the discussion back to the matter at hand. "Is there some other method of bypassing them, or do we just need to hunt down these threshold spirits?"

"There are spells to avoid detection, when dealing with detection wards like these," Nightlight answered. "For example, I used one such spell when we entered, so that we wouldn't be interrupted by anyone else possibly investigating the matter."

"Nightlight!" Katherine hissed at the moonlit warrior, reaching out to tug on his arm. "That's borderline dark magic!"

"It's not," Nightlight muttered with a pout. " _Bunny_ taught me that spell and you wouldn't be calling _him_ borderline dark."

"What you classify the spell as isn't important!" Jack cut in before the two could really get started on arguing. “What’s important is how common this skill is.” The winter spirit considered that trail of thought further. “Even more importantly, we should try to find out who teaches that kind of magic. If they can tell us who their students were, we might find someone suspicious.”

"Sounds like you're putting a lot up to chance," Tooth commented, not seeming terribly pleased with this plan. "I must say that I, at least, don't know much about spellwork or where you'd learn such things." The tooth fairy pressed her lips together. "Never mind there's no guarantee that they'd cooperate."

"Well, I know enough to know that magical spirits guard their magical secrets jealously," Jack said with conviction. "If we say someone's misusing their spells they're more likely to come with us to track down the culprit to make sure justice was served than clam up on us."

"It's also the only lead we have," Nightlight mumbled.

"Alright then," Katherine spoke hurriedly, trying to be subtle about how she elbowed Nightlight in the side. "Lost spellbooks or students gone rogue. Those are what we should focus on. Let's go."

Jack was glad to leave the castle. It felt strangely hollow. The oppressive feeling that usually manifested itself as a pressure in the back of his skull was gone. It was a relief, but it also seemed like an omen. If that phantom feeling wasn't haunting this place, it could have slipped off somewhere else.

 

* * *

 

The Burgess Believers were seated on the floor of Jamie's living room, looking down at a large, old book.

"It really does look like it could be magic," Claude commented.

Pippa huffed incredulously. "It smells like dust and old paper. Jamie probably found it at the back of the library."

"No I didn't!" Jamie insisted passionately. "This is Puck's book. It was in his bag and he left it behind when he left."

"Are you sure you should have taken it?" Cupcake asked, watching the book suspiciously. "Puck's some kind of trickster right?"

"The responsible thing," Monty spoke slowly and seriously, "would be to return it to Puck as soon as possible."

"Oh, come on!" Caleb wheedled in a long whine. "We haven't even seen what's _in_ it, yet. Jamie's just been hoarding it."

"I wasn't hoarding it," Jamie huffed. "I was checking it over to see it was the real deal and not Puck pulling our leg."

"Translation: he started reading it and forgot about telling us until he was done," Pippa said with a smirk. She laughed, along with Cupcake and the twins when Jamie's face turned an embarrassed scarlet.

Monty adjusted his glasses. "So, what is this thing?" he asked. "Is it actually a book of spells?"

Jamie shook his head and lifted the book in his hands. "Better," he said breathlessly. "It's a compendium on all of fairykind."

"So there's no magic?" Claude asked hopefully, even though there was a touch of disappointment in his voice.

"No magic," Jamie confirmed. "It's knowledge."


	9. It's Like Some Strange Moon Had Just Passed

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>   
>  It's like some strange moon  
> Had just passed along your face  
> It's like I had heard a language  
> That only madmen can understand  
> It's like the heart within its chest  
> Had just changed its place  
> It's like some strange moon  
> Had just passed along your face  
> With such cruelty
> 
> ~CMX - Laavaa  
> 

The investigation on the blizzard next led the group to North Pole, to North's sizeable library of magical tomes. North's Workshop was a treasure trove of various kinds, from rare weapons to even rarer spell books, and Jack and the others were fully intending to take advantage of it on their search for more information on magical wards and undoing them.

Even with Christmas done with for the year, the Workshop was still bustling with activity as the yetis cleaned the place up and the elves got in everyone's way trying to get their teeth on any remaining Christmas treats. However, most of North's helpers knew to keep their voices down around the library, which granted Jack and the others the peace needed to go over the sprawling text and yellowed pages.

They didn't really get a chance to get anywhere with their research before the sound of commotion interrupted their work. Since there was very little chance of it being regular Workshop hubbub, they decided to leave the library to investigate.

What they found was a pair of spirits arguing loudly with North. The Christmas spirit actually seemed interested and excited over the fact that one of the spirits was brandishing a very mean-looking knife, expression screaming murder while their voice shouted threats of murder. The third member of the group looked scared witless as they waved their hands between the pair, loose robes flapping with their rapid movements.

"Nicholas!" Katherine called out, picking up her heavy dress (winter wear from their trip to the South Pole) as she run over to the arguing spirits. "Just what is going on here?"

"Ah, Katherine!" North's voice boomed, drowning out the smaller spirit's voice and quieting the verbal abuse coming from their mouth for the moment (they really had a deep voice considering their scrawny build). "Come here and meet my new friends, they are of Aos Sí."

"We're not your friends, you jackass," the knife-wielding fae snarled heatedly, only to be hushed by their companion, who directed a charming smile at Katherine.

"It is a pleasure, Lady Katherine," the more reasonable fae spoke in a honeyed tone that matched his honey-brown hair. "I am Holiday, and this charming _creature_ is my sister, Viola." He offered his hand palm-up, clearly intending a courteous kiss on Katherine's hand. Katherine, however, took a firm grasp of the hand and gave it a forceful but polite shake before releasing it.

"A pleasure," the brunette said in a tone in which Jack at least could not detect any insincerity. "What brings you here, especially in such a mood?"

"Our nephew has been kidnapped!" Viola snapped angrily. Jack had now gotten close enough to get a good look at her and her brother. They were both tall; Viola herself was definitely over six feet and Holiday was somewhere around that area. Viola's facial features were narrow and sharp, from the narrow eyes to the long buck teeth. It was all brought into sharp focus by her short-cropped, metallic blue hair. Her chest was flat and muscled, and her waistline was so narrow Jack doubted there was enough space there for vital organs. The Fae was human-looking enough for Jack to expect human-like features, but there were also things that were clearly wrong, all displayed by a skin-tight outfit straight from a exercise video for experts.

"We don't know that yet," Holiday insisted. He was harder to read than his sibling, lacking many of Viola's facial features, not counting the eyes, which were the same color and shape. His body was covered a loose-fitting robe with sleeves that fell just past his wrists and a hem that reached his knees. His pants were also loose on him, but Jack could guess from that feature that the other fae was most likely as slim as his companion.

Holiday gave the Guardians an apologetic look. "We don't know what happened. All we know is that Puck left the Sídhe to come to the party here at North Pole and we haven't heard from him since."

"He has a curfew," Viola added in, tucking her knife away just so that she could cross her muscled arms over her equally muscled chest (probably for the intimidation value). "He should have been back ages ago. Something's happened."

"He could have gotten distracted," Katherine suggested. "I saw him briefly and he seemed like the excitable sort."

The two fae gave her incredulous looks that lasted for several moments of uncomfortable silence. Finally, Holiday said: "Clearly you haven't met his mother."

"Lucky little shit," Viola muttered to the side.

"The least worrisome option is that he lost his Guide Book," Holiday said. "You need one to enter the Sídhe, so he'd be stuck here."

The mention of a magical book caught Jack's attention. "What kind of book is this?" he asked. "Is it magic or somehow dangerous?"

"It's just a guide book," Holiday answered slowly, as if not sure if he understood the question. "Its only magic is that it guides you into the Sídhe. Puck's not the first one who would have lost one. They usually turn up eventually when an outsider can't resist following the instructions." The fae smiled fondly. "The people from your realm are so _curious_."

"A fault shared by our no-good nephew," Viola said shortly. "Worst case scenario is that he approached the wrong spirit and got eaten."

"Bah!" North said empathetically. "Spirit eaters not so common!"

"But we should still check," Tooth insisted. "These people came to us for help, not for us to belittle their concerns."

"Someone should help find Puck," Nightlight agreed with a nod.

"No it," Jack said quickly.

Viola bristled. "Excuse me?" she growled. "You little asshole!" The Aos Sí took a step towards Jack. "I should-"

"Let's not be so hasty, sister." Holiday was quick to smooth things over, placing a hand on Viola's arm, which had moved back to her waist towards her knife. The honey-haired fae turned to the Guardians. "It seems we are not the only ones with issues. Perhaps, if Puck really has gotten himself into actual trouble, they are related?"

"I doubt that, unless Puck is some kind of weather wizard," Jack said with a cocked brow. "We had a planet-wide freak blizzard the other night."

"And a possibly dangerous artefact was stolen from a carefully warded location," Katherine added. "I don't think Puck would get up to such activities."

"Puck is a little shit," Viola rebuffed simply. "You think _your_ tricksters get bad when they really want to get you? Puck can mess up the flow of time and play shuffle with your mind. And he'll do it all for little more than a laugh."

"No one's ever hurt permanently," Holiday hurried to assure the Guardians. "We Aos Sí wouldn't condone a killer in our midst."

"The point is," Viola pressed on over her brother's voice. "Puck has the know-how if he can find something to do the spell _with_. I'm guessing this missing artefact could have caused the blizzard?"

"It's a powerful winter spirit artefact, yes," Tooth agreed. She frowned. "But could Puck really have gotten past wards? That's a rare ability."

"Maybe for you people. Any Aos Sí can do it," Viola boasted, before shooting her brother a smug look. "All but my brother."

"Any Aos Sí with suitable magical aptitude and the drive to study, maybe," Holiday insisted, arms crossed. "Puck, as it happens, is one of our magical prodigies."

"He gets it from his father," Viola admitted. "That sonnovabitch could attach a warrior's severed head back to his shoulders if he wanted to."

"Well, maybe Nightlight and I can look into that," Katherine suggested, offering Jack a smile. "Even if Puck is not who we're looking for, he might still need our help. Jack and Tooth can continue to peruse North's library."

"Sounds good to me," Tooth agreed readily.

Jack also nodded his head in agreement. Frankly, he was glad for not having to spend time around Viola anymore. There were few people who could glare _that_ fiercely at someone, and it got kind of unnerving after a time.

 

* * *

 

"Are you planting again?" Ostara queried from her old friend as she approached his hunched form over a mound of freshly-grown plants. "I thought you'd be too busy with Easter preparations for that sort of thing."

"They're coming along quite nicely, thank you," Aster replied distractedly as he focused more on his plants than her. "Speaking of, what are you doing here when you should know me to be busy?"

"I just thought I'd drop by for a quick visit," the goddess answered cheerily as she wandered over the lush grass of the Warren. She peered over Aster's crouched form to get a closer look at the plants. Pink fairybells covered the expanse of the mound.

"Oh, that's lovely," the spring spirit spoke with hushed appreciation.

Aster hummed to himself, also sounding pleased, and straightened. "Ostara, care to answer a question for me?"

"Sure," the goddess agreed readily. "What are you wondering about?"

"You were spring in my stead for a long time," Aster said steadily. "If I were incapacitated or compromised in any way, would the position of Herald of Spring transfer to you again?"

"It doesn't work like that at this point in time," Ostara replied easily. She had felt her connection to spring wane long ago as Aster's had strengthened. "You're not just the Herald anymore, you're the sole Sovereign and that won't change unless you die."

"I see," Aster murmured with a deep, thoughtful scowl on his face. "Good."

Ostara giggled. "I'm surprised to see you happy over not being able to push your work off on me." She placed her hands on her hips in a confident gesture. "You used to just love doing that."

"It's about time I took my duties seriously," Aster mumbled, sounding distracted. He turned to look at Ostara then, like he was now noticing her for the first time. "How close are we to Easter now?"

"Less than a month," Ostara replied easily, also having a connection to the holiday. "Why? Don't you know that yourself?"

"It's hard to keep track of things like dates when you're busy with work," Aster grumbled defensively. "Now, did you actually have something important to do or are you here to just distract me from my work even further?"

"Aster," Ostara spoke slowly. "I think you might _need_ a distraction if you're getting this messed up."

"I'm not _getting_ messed up!" Aster hissed, clenching his hands into fists. "I _am_ messed up! I have work to do but I can't focus and I keep losing track of time."

Ostara hummed thoughtfully. "Maybe a break?" she then suggested.

"No time for unscheduled breaks," Aster insisted. "Maybe some relaxing tea once I'm done with the next batch of eggs."

"I'll take care of that," Ostara said as she walked over the Aster, laying a companionable hand on his shoulder. She noted that Aster’s fur was moist, like he’d been sweating. Obviously the Pooka was in need of a break if he was in this state.

Never mind his mood swings. Just a moment previously he was telling Ostara everything was fine with Easter preparations, until he actually heard how close Easter was. Aster was meticulous; Ostara doubted he’d actually let his preparations slip that badly.

Clearly, a distraction was needed.

“So, how are things with you and Jack going?” the goddess asked. “The way I hear it, you’re definitely not at odds anymore.”

Aster made a noncommittal hum as he made his way to the egg fields, Ostara hot on his heels. “I take it Calan has been complaining about me having less time for him?”

“How on earth did you guess?” Ostara laughed. “He’s been hounding _me_ even more than usual.”

“I’d think you’d be glad for the quality time.”

“Not when he’s in such a mood.” Ostara huffed and sat on the hill overlooking the egg fields while Aster scanned them. “If everything’s going as it should, would you sit with me for a bit?”

Aster looked like he was about to refuse, but the hesitance lasted only for a moment before the Pooka nodded and moved back to sit beside the goddess. The flowers really didn’t look like they needed tending. Ostara knew that taking care of them until they were ready to bloom and produce eggs was a fulltime job, but it seemed that Aster had been taking care of that job just fine enough.

Just as well, since he seemed to barely leave the Warren.

“Thanks for this,” Aster spoke after a moment of silence between the friends. “I’ve been too lost inside my own head lately.”

“A bad case of cabin fever,” Ostara agreed. She lifted a fist to bump her companion’s shoulder. “But that’s what friends are for, to give you someone else to listen to than your own stressed out thoughts.”


	10. The More I Get, the More I Want from You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>   
>  I thought it never could happen  
> I thought you never would see me  
> You run a lovin' locomotive  
> You make my needs very primitive
> 
> The more I get, the more I want from you, of your affection  
> When you're around, I'm in control, I feel a complete connection
> 
> ~ Roxette - Crazy About You  
> 

If Jack was completely honest with himself, he wasn't a terribly good reader. He knew _how_ , he'd simply had so few possibilities to practise reading in English. To be fair, though, he hadn't been the best reader of Pookan either. Jack had always preferred to have someone read _to_ him, enjoying the added audio experience over processing words inside his own mind.

Jack had always been a social person, so perhaps that was the reason for his quirk. But he'd also gotten worse at it after his time on Earth.

While Jack had always hated silence, on Earth it had come to mean all sorts of negative things to Jack. Silence meant loneliness and isolation.

Eventually, Tooth noticed Jack's troubles (mostly due to the frustrated groans and increasingly loud bored sighs) and decided to have pity on the winter spirit.

"You know, we still have other leads we haven't tried," the fairy said.

Jack immediately perked up. "Alright."

"Nightlight said Bunny taught him how to cross over wards," Tooth said. "Maybe you could go have a chat with Bunny about that? See if you two can uncover something?"

"Sure thing!" Jack leaped up from his seat. "You can count on me, Tooth!" With that he was off, quick in his movements in case Tooth changed her mind.

Entering the Warren again after such a long while felt strangely like coming home. Jack didn't dwell on the feeling for long, however, when he discovered Bunny practically out cold out on the fields. He walked up to the loudly snoring Pooka, stopping next to his head to properly peer down at Bunny's face.

Bunny looked troubled, face scrunched up tightly. The next moment his eyes snapped open, his breathing fast as he laid his eyes on Jack, not recognizing him at first.

Jack wondered what Bunny had dreamt about (he knew who) to incite that reaction. "What happened to _you_?" he asked.

After taking a few deep breaths to steady himself, Bunny blurted out: "I'm taking a break."

Jack raised an eyebrow, not very impressed. "Now I _know_ something's wrong." Bunny didn't sleep casually.

Bunny's expression darkened. "Funny," the other Pooka grunted out before sitting up. "Why are you here, Jackie?"

"I'm investigating that blizzard," Jack replied, straightening himself, still looking down at his companion. "Someone stole the remains of the Snow Queen's mirror."

That certainly caught the other Pooka's attention. "How?" Bunny asked with wide eyes even as he hurried to stand up to face Jack properly.

Jack crossed his arms, allowing his displeasure to show. "Apparently someone knows how to avoid wards." The winter spirit sighed, thinking back on all the dead ends they'd uncovered so far in their investigations. "Nightlight said you know how."

"My way doesn't work for just anybody," Bunny said. He did lift a hand to rub his chin in a thoughtful gesture, however, so he was clearly thinking about options. "I can step through space where the wards don't reach. It's a personalised version of Pookan Tunnel magic."

"Huh." Jack blinked in surprise. He'd never have been able to make that connection. It sounded really interesting and useful, however. He smiled at Bunny, asking eagerly: "Do you think I could learn it?" There was hesitation in him as well, and he voiced his concerns. "I'm not strictly a Pooka anymore."

Bunny scoffed, either at Jack's failure to display hopefulness or the winter spirit's words. "I don't see why not," the other Pooka said confidently. "Nightlight's never been a Pooka, but his Golden Age magical essence could perform the technique. Most likely some of your old abilities have lasted."

Those words actually had Jack considering and he hummed to himself before he spoke out: "You know, I used to be able to do magic on plants." He wasn't exactly sure he wanted to share that bit; surely anything he could possibly still do would be ridiculously pathetic by Bunny's standards.

Bunny didn't seem like he was going to make fun, however, and merely nodded in understanding. "You did mention your parents were farmers."

"You remembered." Jack grinned widely. Wow, Bunny had actually remembered something he'd mentioned. The expression widened further when he saw Bunny's eyes lower in embarrassment. Jack was finding it difficult to stay still now and he had to clasp his hands together to keep them from fluttering around. "Um, I mean that these days, when I use my magic on trees, it turns the leaves yellow."

"That makes sense," Bunny conceded, looking thoughtful.

The support from his friend had Jack carrying on: "But maybe it's not that my old magic is gone or changed. Maybe it's just been overwhelmed. Maybe I could call it back to the surface."

Bunny gestured to their surroundings. "The Warren is rich with the magic of the plants. You can give it a burl here."

"Really?" Jack didn't think he would stop smiling for the rest of the day.

Bunny seemed almost huffy as he walked past Jack, all the while saying: "I don't joke about things like these." The other Pooka led the way to a vacant batch of grass and crouched down. "Come 'ere."

Jack did as he was instructed and sat on his heels next to Bunny. "So, any pointers? It's been a while for me." It had been a literal lifetime, in fact.

"Plants are about vitality," Bunny said then, apparently more than willing to immediately move into teaching mode. "You should think thoughts that relate to that. The sensation of waking up, of stretching after a long period of stillness."

"Of taking a leap off a rooftop and letting the wind catch me," Jack added in. It sounded about right.

Bunny shivered, probably at the thought of falling, and Jack grinned.

"Exactly," the other Pooka said. "Try it."

Jack laid a hand on the grass and concentrated, under Bunny's watchful gaze. Jack tried to focus for several moments, but when nothing happened, he started to grow frustrated.

Suddenly there was a hand on Jack's shoulder, offering support.

"Don't rush it," Bunny's low voice murmured. "Build up your magic and then release it."

Jack grunted is displeasure, mostly due to his own frustration. Then he sighed when he noticed just how tense he'd gotten and allowed his shoulders to slump. That was when he started to feel a trickling, falling from his fingers to the ground. It was a familiar sensation. But, still, it had been a while, as Jack had himself said, and soon enough Jack had to give up his efforts, breathing in shakily.

Jack looked at his creations. The resulting plants had only nubs instead of flowers, and Jack wondered if Bunny could even tell what he'd been trying to do here.

"Sky Blue Asters," Bunny's voice came, sounding _awed_. "My favourite."

Jack breathed heavily, gathering himself. He tried to sound cool and unaffected as he simply muttered: "I know."

There was movement from Jack's side and the winter spirit glanced over to see Bunny rubbing at his eyes. He felt a sudden jolt, almost frightened, as he hissed desperately. "Are you _crying_?" He really hoped Bunny wasn't crying. He didn't think he could take it.

"No," Bunny huffed, sounding deeply offended by the very thought. "My eye's acting up."

The eye. That old war wound was most often the cause for any worry Jack felt over his companion. He steeled himself and commanded: "Let me see." He then stood up and moved right into Bunny's space, bending over the other spirit's head to peer into his eyes. Jack's thumbs framed Bunny's smarting eye. "There's a slight discoloration," he commented before leaning back. A thought crossed his mind and he voiced it. "Can the thief do damage like this with the shards they stole?"

"I doubt it," Bunny said and he sounded pretty certain. "The mirror was directly tied to the Snow Queen's life force, it shouldn't work for anyone else."

Jack supposed Bunny would know that well enough. There was a sense of 'I knew it', combined with a feeling of defeat when Jack concluded: "So she _is_ back. In some shape or form."

"It seems more likely with the moment." Bunny pressed a hand to his chest, and Jack frowned at the action. "It doesn't sound good."

"Why do you do that?" Jack finally asked the question that had been nagging him, about this weird tick of Bunny's. He invaded Bunny's personal space once more as he reached out and laid a hand over Bunny's own, fingers slipping between Bunny's to bury themselves in gray-blue fur. "What's wrong with your chest?"

Bunny hummed. "Didn't I ever tell you I was stabbed twice?" Bunny brought his other hand to his eye, and Jack's mind instantly made the connection. "The Snow Queen grabbed two of the largest shards of the mirror and stabbed them through my chest and eye at once. I could feel her magic touch my very soul when it sank deep."

First whatever Pitch had done to him, then the Snow Queen did _that_? Jack didn't know how Bunny had survived this long when he was this susceptible to rampant body horror inflicted on him by dark spirits. His very heart ached when he thought about all the time he'd been hibernating, when Bunny would have needed another Pooka to watch his back. Jack was sure he could have managed it better than well.

Jack's musings were cut off when he felt just how wet the fur over Bunny's chest was. He made a face and pulled away. "Ugh", Jack grumbled with displeasure. "Your fur's all moist." Seriously, it was like touching wet seaweed, all slippery and junk.

Bunny didn't seem too bothered by his state, or by Jack's non-complementary comment. Instead he grinned and said: "You're melting my ice heart, Jackie-boy." The other Pooka even chuckled afterwards.

Jack couldn't help but laugh too. "Don't say things like that out loud," he scolded the spring spirit. "I know you're joking but you sound so serious." It made Jack's heart stutter in a way that really wasn't an appropriate reaction to have towards a friend.

Bunny was smirking and Jack knew more was to come. Even so, he still wasn't prepared when Bunny said: "You're my joy."

 _Why_ , how could the other Pooka be so embarrassing with so little care? Jack burst into snickers as he blurted: "I said stop that!" and then promptly pushed Bunny over, the two rolling around in the grass, their laughter echoing brightly.

The two ended up lying on their sides in the grass, laughing softly as they shared a fond look. That was when Jack decided that he was completely and utterly doomed, because this kind of a moment, right here, was beyond perfect, and Jack could imagine waking up every morning just for these moments.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK. And what a comeback, have Jack being absolutely smitten, because you're going to need all the fluff you can get, with the Snow Queen showing up soon.


	11. Come Little Children

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Come little children  
> I’ll take thee away  
> Into a land of enchantment  
> Come little children  
> The time’s come to play  
> Here in my garden of shadows  
> ~ Come Little Children - Brock Walsh & James Horner

Jack dropped by for a visit to Burgess less than a week before Easter. He had expected to find his favorite believers looking forward to the holiday, only to find Jamie sulking in his backyard and glaring at treetops mutinously.

"Why so glum, chum?" Jack asked as he landed with easy grace beside the boy. "You don't look like you're looking forward to Easter at all."

Choosing completely to ignore Jack's starting line, Jamie merely huffed in response before muttering: "Monty's being a butt."

Jack hesitated. "Are we thinking about the same Monty here?" he then asked. "This is not some kid from school who just happens to have the same name?" Really, Jamie had never used the dreaded B-word for any of his friends.

"Yes," Jamie said in a tone of those who've been utterly betrayed. "He said we're getting too old for Easter egg hunts."

Jack had never been one for thinking about whether or not people were too old to do or enjoy something. Regardless, he decided he could help Jamie understand where Monty was coming from.

"Jamie," Jack started, very seriously. "Sometimes, when kids grow up, they become overly conscious of being mature and acting their age. It happens to teenagers more often than not, in fact."

Jamie's eyes were wide with shock. "You make it sound like a _disease_ ," he said, horrified.

"Stress over growing up," Jack clarified. "They don't really know what 'mature' means, though, so usually they just act really serious and spoil everyone's fun." Huh, actually, in hindsight, that explained more than a few things about Eucalyptus back when they'd been at the Academy, although Jack wasn't really sure where in the teenager-to-young-adult scale Eucalyptus had fallen. "Some grow out of it by their college years, when they realize that they've been missing out on having fun when they've been worried about what everyone else thinks."

"Mom doesn't let me watch any shows with college kids," Jamie admitted.

Jack clapped him on the shoulder. "Your mother is a wise woman," he said with conviction. "College kids desperate to have fun can be a sorry sight indeed."

" _You're_ a sorry sight," the kid said with affection. Then the expression turned concerned. "Honest, though, you look exhausted."

"Yeah." Jack sighed. "You know how you always tell me Pitch is like my arch nemesis?"

"He's the first baddie you beat up," Jamie said with a sagely nod. "That sort of thing is important. Ask Caleb, he reads all the comics."

"Right." Jack would never go against the super hero knowledge of Caleb. Magazines took up more space in that kid's room than toys or games combined. "Well, turns out there's a bad guy who's tied to my origin story." A term learned from Caleb's vast super hero knowledge.

Jamie's eyes gleamed with greedy curiosity. "Really?" he breathed. "Tell me _all about it_."

Jack ran a hand through his hair. "I apparently inherited the powers of the vanquished Snow Queen after I came to this planet." Jack figured he could get away with the cliffnotes version of the story for now, even if Jamie would come asking for more details later on. "We're thinking she might have come back now, though, so I'll probably have to fight her."

Jamie attempted to lower his voice, a difficult task for someone on the brink of puberty. "There can be only one."

"Yeah, I'm guessing it's something like that," Jack conceded, even as he didn't recognize Jamie's reference.

Jamie started frowning. "I should look up Snow Queen," he then said with new determination. "If she's your nemesis, we need to know everything about her."

Jack grinned. "Sure thing. Thanks." He doubted Jamie could find much relevant info on a spirit that had been out of the picture for five hundred years, but he did appreciate the gesture.

Suddenly Jamie twitched, almost jumped, like he was startled by something. He turned to Jack, eyes wide. "Jack, do you think-"

"Jack Frost!" a loud voice bellowed, cutting Jamie off. The two looked towards the garden fence to see Holiday grinning over it at them. "I found you at last!"

"Holiday," Jack groaned, both a release of frustration and a greeting. "Do you mind waiting a bit? I'm in the middle of something."

"It's okay, Jack," Jamie insisted. "It could be important and I can check it myself." He made shooing motions with his hands. "Go, go."

"Wow, bossy." Jack laughed. He then stood up and walked over to the fence. "Bye, Jamie!" He waved to the boy, jumping over the fence when the child returned his farewell. He then directed an icy glare at the Aos Sí. "What do you want?"

"The others pulled straws on who's to escort me today," Holiday said with way too much cheer for someone who'd just been passed around like a chore. "You got the short end of the stick."

Jack gave the other an unimpressed look. "Did I really or did the others just decide I did since I wasn't present?"

"You'll never know!" Holiday laughed and threw an arm around Jack's shoulders, which the winter spirit instantly shook off. "Now, come on, you're meant to take me to question other spirits about Puck."

"Right." Jack sighed, then considered. He glanced around. "Where's your sister?"

"Viola is rude and unpleasant to be around," Holiday said, with no regard for his sister's honor it seemed. "We all thought things would go more smoothly if she wasn't there to antagonize people."

"Good thinking." Jack certainly didn't feel a need to hold back on Viola's account. He'd never allow her around kids or, frankly, anyone. "So, where are we headed?"

Holiday's smile widened, if that was even possible. "You are to take me to see Valentines."

Yeah, escorting the Incorrigible Flirt to meet with an entity of Love and Attraction did sound like a class A Undesirable Task. Jack had a feeling that this was going to be a long day.

 

* * *

 

It wasn't entirely unexpected to find Valentines in the middle of doing love fortunes when they arrived. Valentines was a major supportive love entity, given the gift of Sight to help guide others. Spirits with Sight always showed it in some way or another. The ability to see the past, present, future or any combination thereof left you unable to look at things as others would. As such, Valentines' pupils were actually shaped like hearts, hearts that glowed a soft pink when zhe was looking into the beyond.

"-af, you will not be too late to save your love, if I give you a premonition," the spirit of love was murmuring, magic shifting around hir. "Oh, Cupid will need to have a look at those mortals, give them just a little nudge." Valentines was shifting between one premonition to the next, sending out little green parrots with red faces with small pink messages tied to their legs. Zhe reminded Jack of Tooth, juggling hir duties and attention between different locations.

"Oh, shoo." Valentines suddenly waved hir hands and the birds scattered. The heart-shaped pupils had ceased glowing and were now focused on Jack and Holiday. "Don't mind the lovebirds. Come on in, guests."

Holiday practically leaped forward towards Valentines but Jack quickly moved after him and elbowed him into silence before he could speak. And he'd dared to claim Viola's cussing would make things difficult when he couldn't keep his advances to himself? Honestly, Jack was just glad he'd recovered his Pooka reflexes and could move quickly even in his human shape.

"They say you can see the future if it's related to love," Jack pointed out. "If that's true, could you maybe share your knowledge with us?"

Valentines hummed, softly glimmering lips turning into a proud smile. "I can see the possible pathways love may lead you, yes. And my knowledge is only good when it's shared." Zhe seemed pleased that Jack was even requesting hir help.

"Okay." Jack took a breath. "Puck came to this realm from the Sídhe, but no one's seen or heard from him since. Did he meet someone or get mixed up in someone else's love life? I hear he has a habit for the latter." Apparently _A Midnight Summer's Dream_ wasn't entirely fiction.

Valentines' eyes gleamed with the token of hir holiday. "No," the rosy-haired spirit spoke in a low tone. Zhe actually seemed displeased at the lack of information.

Jack huffed. "Figures," he mumbled. "Thanks anyway-"

The winter spirit cut himself off when he saw the other spirit's eyes glow once more. When the glow faded, Valentines' delicate features turned into a confused frown.

"What did you see?" Jack asked. "Was there something after all?"

"Not about Puck," Valentines said slowly. Zhe then grinned at Jack. "Have you considered just kissing him until he gets a clue?"

It took Jack a moment to realize what zhe was referring to. His face heated up and froze over so quickly that the two reactions felt instantaneous. "Shut up!" He whirled around and stomped out, dragging a confused Holiday after him, grumbling about no-good love spirits. And here he'd thought Valentines was different, more in it to help rather than prank people. Honestly, if he found out Tooth had set hir up for this...

"What was _that_ all about?" Holiday asked in his usual loud tones and Jack suddenly remembered that he had company that he was currently manhandling. The winter spirit instantly released the fae and crossed his arms as he muttered: "Everyone's trying to set me up with the Easter Bunny."

"Ooh?" Holiday sounded way too interested all of a sudden. "Felt the lure of another species?" He skipped ahead of Jack and looked just as interested as he sounded. "Not that I blame you, I have experienced such myself." He pointedly looked Jack up and down.

The winter spirit only rolled his eyes at the bad flirt, but still retorted, a touch defensively: "Bunny and I are the same species."

Holiday frowned. "So, the 'bunny' bit is just a title?"

Now it was Jack's turn to be confused. "Have you never seen the Easter Bunny?"

"I've hardly seen any spirits," Holiday confessed. "It's been centuries since Oberon decreed that, for our own safety, it would be for the best if we simply sealed the entrance to the Sidhe and never left."

"I can't imagine living like that." Jack was a free spirit. To be stuck in some sort of fae realm pocket dimension sounded unbelievably dull.

Holiday's usual smile became rueful. "Puck felt the same, many of the younger generation do." Holiday turned away from Jack, like he suddenly wanted to hide his emotions. "They were born in the comfort and safety of the Sidhe, so they don't remember the time we lived without it. We were always so afraid, hunted and lost. The children have only heard of the fear, they haven't experienced it."

Holiday turned back to Jack, green eyes impassionate. "I'm not a warrior, unlike my family members, nor am I a powerful spellcaster. I think Oberon's decision was right and justified." A sorrow had settled into the deep green and Jack was struck with a familiarity that he couldn't chase after when he was being given new information. "There is also the possibility that Puck has simply chosen to abandon the Sidhe, not wanting to live like us."

Jack's hands twitched, longing to reach for the staff strapped to his back. "What will you do if that's the case?" He was actually inclined to be on Puck's side if the missing fae just wanted to be free.

Holiday scoffed. "I'd drag him by his ears to tell that to his parents. They love him and have been nothing but kind to him and he should have the decency to be honest with them." The fae sighed, shrugging. "Then I'd try to convince his parents he's old enough to make his own choices. He's family and I want him to be happy."

"Huh, right then," Jack said noncommittally. Honestly, that was possibly the most relatable thing Holiday had said during the time Jack had known him. Maybe he wasn't _that_ bad. Maybe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about coming back from my hiatus with such a boring chapter. It actually has a bunch of stuff that's setting up things that will happen later in the story and this was the best place to put it all. Oberon sure sounds like a protective king of fairies, doesn't he? And I wonder what Jamie's going to check while Jack's occupied with Holiday...
> 
> This chapter was actually originally going to have a Snow Queen appearance, but I decided to move it to the next one, where it fits better. Chapter 12 is going to have Jack finally get a hint about her what she's been doing for five centuries.


	12. I Do Bad Things Such Horrible Things

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>   
>  I am not a bad man  
> Even though I do bad things  
> Very bad things  
> Such horrible things  
> But it's not quite what it seems  
> Not quite what I seem
> 
> Aw, hell  
> I’m exactly what I seem  
> ~ Creature Feature - Such Horrible Things

She knew quite well that she wasn't The First. Regardless of what those who stood against her said, she didn't have an inflated sense of her own importance or worth. She knew quite well that The First had been the gods whose names humans chanted to the skies when the wind blew colder or ice fell down in place of rain. There were gods and goddesses for cold, snow, rain, lightning and the rage of the heavens. And yet, even as the deities controlled the phenomena of the season, only she _was_ the season.

In the beginning, she didn't even have a name. She was the storms, the winds and the water given form. A sprite more than a spirit. But she'd kept growing stronger, surrounding herself in the wild magic of uncontained nature, until she'd become _more_.

She'd spoken to other spirits with the new voice she'd gained. Other spirits had spoken to her, but they couldn't relate to her. There was something about her that was off to them, off-putting, strange and unpleasant. She suspected she should have been hurt by it rather than merely inconvenienced. However, it was hard to care about the opinions of people she didn't care about. She wasn't sure if she could care, but she could be winter and storms and cold. So she focused on the winter.

The humans just kept giving her more power. She'd made herself become one with the cold and the wind and the winter, and the humans lit their fires in the dark and cold winter, their hearts filled with belief. They lit their lights to keep her out, and so she became one with the other things they locked out as well. The light was meant to keep despair at bay, along with the winter, and so she became winter and despair.

She took to observing humans. It was thanks to them that she’d grown to be as powerful as she had. That was when she became more aware of individual names and their usefulness. So she decided that she needed one as well. She watched village children at play when she saw them out and about and listened to the names they called each other. Eventually she decided that 'Imma’ would do nicely.

While it hadn’t been the reason she’d picked a name to begin with, she had at some subconscious level expected others to relate to her more easily once she had one. Only, other spirits were still shifty and distrustful around her. In fact, they seemed to be even more wary of her than before. That was most likely due to the new tangle of overlapping forces that had become of her magical core.

People didn’t care for what she stood for, both humans and spirits alike.

All of Imma’s preconceptions faded, however, once she met him. The rabbit spirit, Aster, was as old as the elements, at the very least, and he hadn’t seemed to notice anything out of the ordinary about her and her powers.

It had made the spring spirit interesting.

Imma made the mistake of assuming that Aster was exactly like her. She'd assumed that he was a loner, same as her, that he didn't have a choice in terms of company and couldn't talk to just anyone.

The thing was, however, that Aster was well-liked. It seemed that whenever Aster went out, there was at least one other spirit wanting to greet him, tell him about some problem with spring or just talk about something to do with plants. Imma was quite certain that she would soon skewer Calan Gaeaf if she was forced to listen to him and look at him one more time.

It was unfair, wasn't it, that Aster had other friends when she had only Aster? It was unfair that she had to share her only friend with other people, with people who doubtlessly had other friends to be with. It was only logical that they'd let Imma have Aster, when he was all she had. And certainly Aster should understand that it wasn't fair of him to split his time between different people when Imma was all by herself whenever he was elsewhere. They both had seasonal duties that kept them busy a lot, so they shouldn't squander whatever free time they had by being apart.

Imma had reasoned it all out inside her head but, for some reason, she couldn't get Aster to understand. She couldn't get him to see things her way.

"Seriously, Imma, who will you turn to if I'm not available?" Aster asked in that exasperated manner of his, voice gruff and low, put-upon but not condescending. "What will you do if we have a fight?"

Imma smiled. "I'll wait until you forgive me and come back."

Aster sighed to that. Imma's smile widened.

"You have such a forgiving nature," she teased her friend.

"Either I learned to forgive or lived my entire adolescence hating my grandfather," Aster grumbled with distaste. "I have better things to do than hate my family tree."

"I don't mind." Imma giggled, self-assured and pleased. "It does benefit me."

There was a good side to never having to apologise.

 

* * *

 

Years down the line, when Aster's sharpened claws sunk into her side, Irma wondered if there was some merit to apologies. She also wondered if it might not be too late for one.

"Aster," Irma cooed, even as she stumbled from the blow, dodging around her mirror as Aster neared. "Stop this. Forgive and forget, right? That's who you are." She kept dodging Aster's enraged blows, movements like a whispering wind even in her injured state. "You're not vengeance."

"Watch me!" Aster snarled and swung an enormous claw. This time, however, he wasn't even aiming at Irma. Instead, his claws crashed right into Irma's precious mirror, sending the shard scattering in an arch of glass and chaotic magic.

"No!" Irma screamed as she dove after the shards. "No, nonononono!" Her hands scrambled against the shards, knowing she of all people didn't need to worry about the mirror cutting her. Her hands reached two of the largest pieces and she grasped them just in time to dodge another blow from Aster.

"I'm tired of always forgiving everything done to me!" Aster roared over Irma's voiced denials over the smashing of her magical companion. "You never learn, you never stop! I'll never forgive you! I'm done forgiving!"

"So be it!" Irma snapped and, the next time Aster took a swing at her, she dodged closer to Aster instead of further away. She brandished the glass shards like knives and plunged one into the left side of Aster's chest, where most creatures kept their hearts. The other one she swung in a broad arch until it was embedded in Aster's right eye.

Aster howled in agony, either from the magic invading his body or from being cut apart. Irma didn't care which it was, she just wanted him to _hurt_ , if he didn't die like she was going to now.

"Let nothing be as clear to you as hatred!" Irma screeched as she twisted the shard in Aster's eye. "And let nothing be as blurry as love!" She was on her last breath. This was her last wish, these her last words. And so they became the most potent of all curses, only moments before her entire being fluttered apart like a fresh snowdrift, with the softest of sounds and a scattering of speckled snow.

This was who she was. Vengeful and wrathful to the very end. But she did leave her mark on Aster. Aster would be harder after this all. He'd be more like her. Finally.

 

* * *

 

Irma stretched her arms as high as they would go. It was a rare chance for her to go outing like this; she'd been feeling stifled for years now and it felt good to spread her arms out to feel the spring in the air. She would have preferred winter, but she knew that, as long as her plans kept moving into the right direction, she would eventually have enough winter to enjoy to her heart's content.

She would need to be careful, even as she yearned to feel the air and breathe it in. She couldn't afford to be caught yet, not when she was so close to victory but with the last pieces still needing one more push to their places for her victory to be assured. As such, she had chosen the early morning moors for her little walkabout. Covered in mist and inhabited only scarcely by highly antisocial spirits, they were the perfect place to enjoy the great outdoors with all of her enemies being none the wiser.

Regardless, Irma did notice someone attempting to sneak up on her - a bold move considering there weren't any trees to provide cover - and the sorceress quickly formed a heavy blade of ice to brandish right in front of Pitch Black's face when the Boogeyman manifested from the long morning shadows.

"Really, my dear?" Pitch cocked an eyebrow at the weapon. "Is that how you greet old friends?"

Irma pulled the sword back but didn't evaporate it. Instead she rested it against the shoulder farther away from Pitch, keeping a grip on the handle. Just because Pitch had arrived on peaceful terms (or so he implied) didn't mean that their conversation wouldn't take a path that would have her preferring to behead him.

"What gives you the right to call me 'friend'?" Irma asked the dark spirit.

Pitch was looking extremely smug now that the pointy sword wasn't directed at him. "Well, we share enemies, and you know what they say. The enemy of my enemy is my friend."

Irma narrowed her eyes in a glare. "They also say: 'Keep your friends close, but keep your enemies closer.' How am I to know which you intend?"

The Boogeyman actually tried for a gentle and friendly expression. It looked entirely uncanny on him. "Irma, my dear. You know it as well as I do: what goes together better than the cold and the dark?"

Irma smiled. "How sweet," she demurred. "You're quoting me." Her expression turned icy and she shifted her grip on her sword meaningfully. "It would be more sweet if I hadn't heard you using my lines on some low-grade pretender."

Pitch froze, a quickly passing flicker of fear on his face. He recovered soon after, however, and went on smoothly: "An inferior replacement for the real thing, my dear." He gave her sword a wary glance. "But, you...heard that?"

"Of course I did." Irma scoffed at the question. "Jack Frost an extension of me, naturally I would be aware of the things he sees and hears."

"Then you know how strong the Guardians have grown," Pitch said. "We've both even witnessed it."

"What are you getting at?" Irma asked, even though she already had a very big clue. Regardless, Pitch liked word games and it wasn't often he got to verbally spar with someone who was even remotely friendly towards him and therefore more open for wordplay. She wondered about this cultural side of Pitch, and suspected it was an artefact from the life he'd had before Pitch Black. He was similar to her Aster in that; they both gave the impression of having been something vastly different at some point.

"Centuries ago you came to me asking for an alliance," Pitch said. "I sidelined you as an unknown spirit then, but I would be willing to reconsider by now."

Irma couldn't help it; it had been such a long time since she'd last felt like this. She laughed. She threw her head back and let it pour out of her, cackles that were like cracking lightning.

"Oh, how amusing," she purred once her mirth calmed down enough to allow her to. "Rather than the spurned woman, shouldn't it be you who asks to ally yourself with _me_ , Pitch Black?" She smiled at the Boogeyman, wide and taunting.

"Who cares about little practicalities, my dear, when we have known each other for so long and we have so much in common?" Pitch spoke in a smooth croon. His smile was all teeth, matching Irma's own.

"A joint era of deep, dark winter?" Irma mused. "It doesn't sound so bad."

"Not at all," Pitch agreed. The shadows deepened. "But, we mustn't dawdle or we might be spotted. I'll leave you to consider my offer." With a gallant bow, Pitch vanished into his shadows.

Irma hummed as her bare feet drifted on the grassy knoll. Pitch was confident, to come and go so easily into and from her presence. It almost made Irma want to be contrary just because.

There were also other things to consider, however. Pitch wanted to be her partner in crime. Too bad she already had someone much more suited in mind. He just needed some grooming for the task first.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had another option for a mood song for this chapter, as, when I described the last sequence to my brother, he summed it up with: "Pitch asks for a villain team-up and Irma sings Lord Dominator's "I'm the Bad Guy" in response."
> 
> Also, I might have poured some of my own frustrations into writing Irma. I just get really suspicious looking at the romanticization of relationships where the other person is all you have and all you need. It's unhealthy as all hell, although not everyone who forms relationships like that is an evil winter witch.


End file.
